Future of the (Electronic) Healthcare Industry

January 13, 2009

During his presidential campaign, President-Elect Obama said he would allocate $50 billion over five years to support the adoption of standards-based health IT systems and a national health information network.

On Friday, January 09, 2009: President-Elect Barack Obama Calls for All Americans To Have EHRs Within Five Years. This gives the Healthcare Industry a huge leverage over other Industries.

Here is my interpretation of the future of the Health Care Industry:

1. EHRs (Electronic Health Records) will be mandated for patient record keeping
2. Personal Health Record (PHR) will gain momentum and will govern the way interoperability is being driven
3. Interoperability, Clinical Decision Support, Population Health and Quality Measures are the buzz words which will improve care for the years to come
4. Health Information Exchange will bring better control over Patient Consent Management
5. Certified products will bring standardization for EHRs. Additional features in form of plugins, extensions and “Surprise” features will be the reason to choose an EHR.
6. Technology improvements will allow Privacy and Security policies to improve over the processes.
7. Harmonization of efforts will allow consolidation of similar standards
8. Coordinated Quality Care will be the norm towards transforming healthcare in the US.