David Kibbe describes an interesting idea today on The Health Care Blog, an EHR service that providers can subscribe to, and allow data sharing with the patients. A hybridized EHR+PHR, if you will. Here’s his description:
I call this Clinical Groupware. The term captures the basic notion that
he primary purpose for using these IT systems is to improve clinical care through communications and coordination involving a team of people, the patient included. And in a manner that fosters accountability in terms of quality and cost.Clini
al Groupware is a departure from the client-server and physician-centric EHR technology of the past 25 years, a fixed database technology that never really became popular. It is a substantially new and disruptive technology that offers lower price of pu
chase and use, greater convenience, and is capable of being used by less skilled customers across a broader range of settings than the technology it replaces.
Disruptive technology indeed – I can just hear the tensing muscles as people envision shared use of (gasp) heath information. However, as I continue to tell anyone who will listen, the consumers of the world will not let go of their consumption style in every other sector (get me your product how, when and where I want it) when it comes to healthcare. At a certain point (and with health reform barreling down on us, not too far away, the consumers will just not take “because we’re not comfortable with it” as an answer.
A side note on this idea – we have two rural systems in Wisconsin (one hospital network and one an extensive clinic network) that pool HIT between sites, and buy a piece of that service. The IT staff, software/hardware upgrades, tech-support, etc are all handled by a central source. This is a cheaper entry-point into high-end HIT for smaller facilities, and a natural RHIO. Perhaps this “Clinical Groupware” is an evolution of that idea, and something to keep in mind as we head toward the horizon.
