A Future Ready Platform for Innovation with MEDITECH and HCA Healthcare UK

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the pace of change and innovation in healthcare happening quicker than it is today.  More data is available.  More technology is available.  More opportunity is available.  Amidst all of this innovation, hospital and health systems need to find a sustainable approach to innovation that will serve their healthcare organization’s needs today, but also sets them on the right path to benefit from the innovations of tomorrow.

At the recent HIMSS conference, Mike Cordeiro, Senior Director of Interoperability at MEDITECH and Dr. Ekanjali Dhillon, Digital Transformation Change Lead Medicine and Oncology at HCA Healthcare UK did a great presentation together with Rachel Wilkes, Associate Vice President at MEDITECH where they talked about their view of the future of healthcare innovation and how the MEDITECH Expanse platform is helping healthcare organizations like HCA Healthcare UK prepare for the future.

Here are some of the key insights and perspectives they shared during the session along with some additional commentary.

What do you think of this list of things that a future-ready system needs?

• Interoperability
• Data liquidity
• AI capabilities
• Scalable cloud infrastructure

I think this is a nice list.  Hard to imagine any innovation going forward that doesn’t leverage most or all of these things.

This is a great vision.  I love how it incorporates both the clinician and the patient.  We’ve seen how empowered patients have become thanks to access to healthcare data and technology.  It’s great to see MEDITECH embracing the patient in this way as well.  I also love the evolution from data repository to actually leveraging the data for action.

This was a common theme at the HIMSS conference this year.  I heard it in all sorts of forms, but the basic idea is that healthcare has enough data.  However, do we trust the data?  Is the data usable?  Is the data available?  Are we utilizing the data that’s available to us in the most effective manner?

What do you think it takes to create a future-proof, intelligent, and extensible platform?  This is a smart approach by MEDITECH because the industry is changing so quickly.  Of course, you have to skate to where the puck is going and not where it is (kudos to Wayne Gretzky for that).  The bet I’d make in this regard is that the future is built on the back of data.  Access to the right data that lets you do intelligent things is going to be powerful.

I asked this question of a CIO at HIMSS as far as how you can make sure that your infrastructure is future-proof.  I wish I’d had the list above.  The one that I think may be most powerful is the normalized data collection.  I know there’s some disagreement out there about how AI can overcome data that’s not normalized.  However, I still think data normalization is going to be important and valuable.  AI will help with the normalization, but normalized and trusted data is going to be key.  The rest to me is about accessibility and things like information blocking are forcing that issue.

I always love seeing the progress we’re making on connecting healthcare.  It’s great to see that MEDITECH’s Traverse Exchange has connected so many health systems.  The big winner is patients.  Although, this connectivity is going to matter more and more as we continue the shift to value based care too.

It’s amazing to see how far the EHR has come.  I’ve long said that the EMR was originally designed as a big billing engine.  The slide above illustrates how far the EHR has come from those early days of documenting and billing (of course both still important).  Coming out of HIMSS, the idea of orchestration really seems to have become popular.  The idea of the EHR orchestrating care is a big shift in mindset and utlity for a healthcare organization.

I think many people don’t realize the great international footprint the MEDITECH has.  Hearing this example from HCA Healthcare UK was great.  While there are no doubt some unique country differences out there, the need to share healthcare data between organizations is a universal need in every country.

It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come when it comes to empowering patients.  I’m confident that many patients would still argue that we have a long ways to go.  Both can be true.  However, it’s definitive progress that an EHR vendor like MEDITECH would be sharing these principles about how they are working to empower patients.  I think any healthcare organization that doesn’t embrace these principles is likely going to be left behind by patients.

This approach reminds me of the famous quote by Richard Branson about his focus was to take care of his people and then they would take care of the customers.  The same is true for how we help providers and was illustrated well in the slide above.  If we free up the time and the cognitive load of the provider, the patients are going to benefit in really great ways.  That’s why I’m always a little chagrined when people say we should only focus on the patients, not the providers.  One of the best ways to benefit patients is to improve the provider experience.

What do you think of the shift from documenting care to orchestrating care and this list of what this shift means?

• More predictive and coordinated care
• Less administrative burden on clinicians
• Faster innovation for organizations
• AI becoming a native part of care delivery

What’s most exciting for me is that it still feels like we’re at the start of this journey.  I like these pillars and frameworks that MEDITECH and their Expanse platform are putting out there.  As we layer on AI and other technologies, it will be amazing to see how good data with great technology really transform healthcare.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the pace of change and innovation in healthcare happening quicker than it is today.  More data is available.  More technology is available.  More opportunity is available.  Amidst all of this innovation, hospital and health systems need to find a sustainable approach to innovation that will serve their healthcare organization’s needs today, but also sets them on the right path to benefit from the innovations of tomorrow.

At the recent HIMSS conference, Mike Cordeiro, Senior Director of Interoperability at MEDITECH and Dr. Ekanjali Dhillon, Digital Transformation Change Lead Medicine and Oncology at HCA Healthcare UK did a great presentation together with Rachel Wilkes, Associate Vice President at MEDITECH where they talked about their view of the future of healthcare innovation and how the MEDITECH Expanse platform is helping healthcare organizations like HCA Healthcare UK prepare for the future.

Here are some of the key insights and perspectives they shared during the session along with some additional commentary.

What do you think of this list of things that a future-ready system needs?

• Interoperability
• Data liquidity
• AI capabilities
• Scalable cloud infrastructure

I think this is a nice list.  Hard to imagine any innovation going forward that doesn’t leverage most or all of these things.

This is a great vision.  I love how it incorporates both the clinician and the patient.  We’ve seen how empowered patients have become thanks to access to healthcare data and technology.  It’s great to see MEDITECH embracing the patient in this way as well.  I also love the evolution from data repository to actually leveraging the data for action.

This was a common theme at the HIMSS conference this year.  I heard it in all sorts of forms, but the basic idea is that healthcare has enough data.  However, do we trust the data?  Is the data usable?  Is the data available?  Are we utilizing the data that’s available to us in the most effective manner?

What do you think it takes to create a future-proof, intelligent, and extensible platform?  This is a smart approach by MEDITECH because the industry is changing so quickly.  Of course, you have to skate to where the puck is going and not where it is (kudos to Wayne Gretzky for that).  The bet I’d make in this regard is that the future is built on the back of data.  Access to the right data that lets you do intelligent things is going to be powerful.

I asked this question of a CIO at HIMSS as far as how you can make sure that your infrastructure is future-proof.  I wish I’d had the list above.  The one that I think may be most powerful is the normalized data collection.  I know there’s some disagreement out there about how AI can overcome data that’s not normalized.  However, I still think data normalization is going to be important and valuable.  AI will help with the normalization, but normalized and trusted data is going to be key.  The rest to me is about accessibility and things like information blocking are forcing that issue.

I always love seeing the progress we’re making on connecting healthcare.  It’s great to see that MEDITECH’s Traverse Exchange has connected so many health systems.  The big winner is patients.  Although, this connectivity is going to matter more and more as we continue the shift to value based care too.

It’s amazing to see how far the EHR has come.  I’ve long said that the EMR was originally designed as a big billing engine.  The slide above illustrates how far the EHR has come from those early days of documenting and billing (of course both still important).  Coming out of HIMSS, the idea of orchestration really seems to have become popular.  The idea of the EHR orchestrating care is a big shift in mindset and utlity for a healthcare organization.

I think many people don’t realize the great international footprint the MEDITECH has.  Hearing this example from HCA Healthcare UK was great.  While there are no doubt some unique country differences out there, the need to share healthcare data between organizations is a universal need in every country.

It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come when it comes to empowering patients.  I’m confident that many patients would still argue that we have a long ways to go.  Both can be true.  However, it’s definitive progress that an EHR vendor like MEDITECH would be sharing these principles about how they are working to empower patients.  I think any healthcare organization that doesn’t embrace these principles is likely going to be left behind by patients.

This approach reminds me of the famous quote by Richard Branson about his focus was to take care of his people and then they would take care of the customers.  The same is true for how we help providers and was illustrated well in the slide above.  If we free up the time and the cognitive load of the provider, the patients are going to benefit in really great ways.  That’s why I’m always a little chagrined when people say we should only focus on the patients, not the providers.  One of the best ways to benefit patients is to improve the provider experience.

What do you think of the shift from documenting care to orchestrating care and this list of what this shift means?

• More predictive and coordinated care
• Less administrative burden on clinicians
• Faster innovation for organizations
• AI becoming a native part of care delivery

What’s most exciting for me is that it still feels like we’re at the start of this journey.  I like these pillars and frameworks that MEDITECH and their Expanse platform are putting out there.  As we layer on AI and other technologies, it will be amazing to see how good data with great technology really transform healthcare.