10,000 hours for Health IT?

Neil Versel's Health IT Commentary

Neil presents thoughts and commentary on the current momentum in advances for Healthcare IT.

Some of these comments have valid points, but I will also mention that as we move forward with proposed Healthcare initiatives, we should remember that progress will be made when we consider and adopt successes of other industries. I say this because I believe that healthcare is one of the "last frontiers" for IT. Medical technologies have advanced in their own right, but the "back-office" of healthcare and its associated paper continues to lag behind.

I agree that it is NOT the technology that will improve health outcomes. It is the USE of appropriate and enabling technologies that may indeed make the difference.

The new administration presented a proposed framework for transforming healthcare in the US. I don't think that a "big bang" approach in a top down fashion is the only methodology. Rather, I suggest that since the "devil is in the details", progress will be made by those in the trenches. A framework along the lines of what Daschle proposed is needed, but should also be complimented with a "bottom up" approach. Truthfully, I suggest that a "Manhattan Project" style approach with multi-disciplinary contributors are best suited to solve the wicked details of Health IT?

In fact, Gladwell in his new book "Outliers," speaks about the potential for individuals with their 10,000 hours of preparation to achieve success in their chosen areas. Perhaps we need to invest in these 10K hours, or even better, combine the experience of a collaborative effort of top knotch professionals to jump start the program.

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Comments

[Deborah Leyva]

You're absolutely correct, John. It will be brutal as we progress along this rocky terrain. I am hopeful that as time progresses, we will see the proverbial "light bulb" appear as those working to achieve improvements learn from the successes (and failures) of other industries.

[John Lynn]

I like your description of Healthcare being the last IT frontier. Using your comparison, that also means it's probably the hardest frontier with the most brutal conditions that make it difficult to "settle."