On 13 and 14 January one of my colleagues, Jacob Knudsen and I participated in the annual meeting of the Danish Society for Quality in the Healthcare Sector, DSKS. The theme of the well-attended meeting was “Quality in the Encounter with the Patient”. During the two-day event, a number of workshops and presentations dealt with how the interaction and communication with the patient can be improved. The main message of the annual meeting was that …
Health Transformation Blog
Telemedicine benefits us all. Why have we waited so long for it to take off?
A new Danish national strategy for telemedicine is about to be decided upon – but will it deliver more than words? My daughter is a diabetic type 1 and has been so for 11 of her 20 years. She regularly takes time off from University to go to the University Hospital in Aarhus, where she meets some excellent diabetes doctors, helping her and giving her the ability to manage her diabetes and control her long-term …
Manifesto for an eHealthier Europe
Participating in a debate and dinner in Brussels on Wednesday the 30th of November, Microsoft Vice-President John Vassalo handed over a manifesto to members of the European Commission and European Parliament. It makes the case that “Better Health is everybody’s business” and traces the interconnectedness of key issues in healthcare with admirable clarity: managing chronic conditions, coordinating provision of care outside hospitals, making better use of technology in a climate in which reductions in spend …
Fostering broad uptake of innovation
Management of innovation in healthcare will be key to the future of healthcare systems. Especially the nationwide uptake of innovations requires creative strategic thinking and stamina. The US “meaningful use” program is one way to foster the uptake of IT in clinical practice. This financial incentive to start using electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful way, linked to contractual obligations to do so in the long run, definitely has provided a boost in the …
Value of HIE for Public Health Purposes
During the ONC All Grantee meeting last week there were a number of discussions regarding how HIEs can add value to sharing of Public Health data (e.g., immunizations, reportable diseases, reportable lab results, vital statistics, etc.). These discussions offered insights, lessons learned, and observations regarding potential barriers. ONC plans on posting the knowledge elements on their website so you can find them there (or let me know and I can share what I learned). My …
Healthcare more patient centric – easier said than done
Every year we observe an increase in patients asking for more influence on their own health care treatment plans. More and more patients can articulate their wishes and needs with respect to the health care they receive and they are increasingly able to take charge of their own healthcare process, of their own wellbeing. To take charge of your own healthcare, you should have access to your own healthcare information. Not only the GP or hospital …
How to combat fraud in the healthcare sector?
Fraud and abuse are growing problems in the healthcare sector. According to the Global Health Care Anti-Fraud Network, www.ghcan.org, a global partnership between international organizations, $260 billion (€180 billion), approximately 6 percent of global healthcare spending is lost to fraud each year. We’ve found that more and more of our clients are looking for ways to make their fraud detection systems more effective, and to comply with national and international regulations on claims validation. For …
Leveraging DIRECT within the HIE
An important element of the US national HIE program (NwHIN) being led by ONC is DIRECT. Simply put, this capability leverages secure email as a means to connect providers who wish to share patient care information that exists in their EMRs. This interim solution (until HIEs are fully functional as enterprise data sharing environments) will give providers a way to meet Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements and, therefore, be eligible for incentive payments (if a …
Research, standards and everyday life
Today I arrived in Oslo for the Medical Informatics Europe conference. Here the researchers in Medical Informatics meet every year to present the results of their projects, to network, and to keep up with what is going on in the world of Health IT. This year’s topic is User Centered Networked Health Care. It really preludes to what is seen coming to life in day-to-day healthcare as well. In an analysis of European policy …




