7 Predictions for the Future of HealthIT

Great post: 7 predictions for the future of health care technology
I expect we are failing to imagine all the other opportunities that exist but makes some key points

Democratization of Medical Knowledge

For thousands of years, the science and art of medicine has been passed down from generation to generation under an apprenticeship model (it's called "a practice" after all). Today, we have an opportunity to leverage technology to make doctors' wisdom accessible to all. To date, we've published entire encyclopedias of medical knowledge, but they remain largely impenetrable by the mass audience. What's missing is useful, user-friendly information that guides healthy behavior

Quite right - gone are the days of the all wise and knowledgeable oracle ala "Wizard of Oz" for doctors

Consolidated Patient Information

It's only a matter of time before a platform emerges that can aggregate and safely store patient information in one place.

Not sure I agree that we are that close - we need truly shareable data but we continue to struggle to reach this key goal

Cost Savings from HealthIT

You bet!

we will need an efficient system to triage health queries and manage patients based on urgency, severity, and available capacity

And we will (and are) getting that! This company Sense.ly is a good example and leading this charge with virtual assistant technology

Medical Knowledge is Exploding

And it is only going to get worse (or should that be better) - its not just #bigdata that is driving this but the explosion of understanding, technological advances (genome, biome to mention a couple)

Focusing on the Patient

I have been saying this for a while - and Health technology is offering some new concepts to allow clinicians to focus on the patient vs the technology

The average doctor-patient encounter in the U.S. lasts seven minutes…..not surprisingly, patients often complain about their doctors' bedside manner

As this company EZDerm has shown with their innovative application has shown (what a great advert)

http://youtu.be/E6bU--8sszg

Technology can actually help foster a stronger culture of care in a fast-paced world – when visits are more efficient, doctors have more time to hold a hand, share a smile, alleviate anxiety, and talk with each patient…..Making patients healthier and happier

Original Geneticist who discovered BRCA1 Gene - Delighted with #SCOTUS ruling

The Geneticist Mary-Claire King who discovered the BRCA1 gene, says

she is delighted by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes it illegal to patent it

and rightly so

Dan Munro reviews the decision in this piece on breaking the Myriad Monopoly

and he rightly pointed out that Mark Skolnick said in an interview in 2007

Q: "You [Myriad] said this test will one day be 100's of dollars. Why is it still $3,000? Why is it increasing?" Joanna Rudnick – film documentarian

A: "That's a good question and I think there's a point at which we have to start looking at decreasing the cost of the test." Founder and Former Myriad Genetics CEO – Mark Skolnick

Hmmm - now 6 years on and instead the price increases?

I don't think this will stifle innovation and what is often forgotten is much of the discovery and innovation was publicly funded - the original DNA project was publicly funded. This is a win for science

Hybrid Workflows Big Source of Errors for EMRs

Interesting study published by Pennsylvania Safety Authority 

Spotlight on Electronic Health Record Errors: Paper or Electronic Hybrid Workflows

What will not be a shock but still an important finding - hybrid workflows major challenge in EMR implementations creating much increased risk of errors