Health IT in 2013

We have made some great progress in 2013 on EHR adoption, which is really all about data capture and the digitization of health data. Technologically speaking, we are finally beginning to drag the healthcare industry kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. And we’re making strides in interoperability, or data sharing. HIE infrastructure is in place and the policy framework will continue to drive adoption – the business case for sharing data is even more pressing as new payment and care delivery models continue to spring up.

The third piece that has started to emerge this year is health data analytics. This will enable healthcare organizations to realize some significant returns on their IT investments and thrive in the healthcare marketplace of the future.

Whatever your vision for health reform (and I think we can all agree that our system is broken), there is little doubt that the smart use of technology tools are what is going to make us successful. Todd Park, the U.S. CTO, once said that, “”There’s no problem America has we can’t invent our way out of, if we really try.” However, it is claimed that Winston Churchill once opined “The United States can always be relied upon to do the right thing — having first exhausted all possible alternatives.”

There is at least a grain of truth in each of these sayings, and we may have reached a point where they collide.

continue reading on HL7 Standards blog to see 2013 Year in Review on the following topics:

• EHR Adoption
• Meaningful Use Changes
• Health Information Exchange 
• Patient Engagement 
• Changing of the Guard at ONC

Karen DeSalvo, MD, the new National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the ONC