Archive for March, 2014

Interoperable Healthcare

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014

icu-interopThis is a good read: Healthcare Innovation Day 2014: Igniting an Interoperable Healthcare System (warning: PDF).

Healthcare is the one industry that’s been the slowest to adopt the intelligent methods we have in most other parts of our lives. How did the communications revolution that transformed industries such as banking, entertainment and telecom somehow leave healthcare behind?

Great question!

Here's the 'Call to Action' list:

  1. Recognize that the lack of interoperability is a crisis and advocate for rapid change.
  2. Frame the interoperability problem correctly: Everyone is in the business of gathering and sharing data to best serve patients.
  3. Accelerate the full adoption of unambiguous, open standards for interoperability.
  4. Align stakeholder incentives to drive interoperability.
  5. Ensure validity, privacy, and security of data.
  6. Reduce technical complexity for hospitals, health systems, and healthcare workers.
  7. Develop new ways to use data streams that will result from interoperability to drive an adaptive system that will improve patient health.
  8. Guarantee secure access to data for patients, researchers.

There is a lot to do...

Services, Not Sensors

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

internetofthingsThe Internet Of Things: The Real Money Is The Internet, Not The Things (my highlight):

The trick will be whether hardware companies will push hard enough for standardization so they can capitalize on services revenue. Companies that see themselves as pure hardware manufacturers are likely doomed, but those that see beyond the "things" to instead focus on the services built on the "Internet," the future is very bright.

Is this the new reality for the medical device industry as well?  If data and interoperability are the future, maybe it should be!