Cerner’s John Glaser said today’s overarching technology trends — analytics, big data and the Internet of Things — have enormous potential to improve the way individual patients receive care.
“We’re getting incredibly sophisticated at looking at patterns, understanding what’s going on,” said Glaser, who is Cerner’s senior vice president of population health and global strategy. “I think what we’ll see is the push for life experience – knowing enough about you and me to not only tailor interventions, but tailor the healthcare experience in a way that’s much more suited to us.”
The broad rubric of the Internet of Things is also brimming with prospects, he said.
“The ability to choreograph complex processes and machines that are really different is another point of explosive opportunity going forward,” he said.
Glaser emphasized that improvement is not always about new technology, but rather about optimizing technology investments already in place.
It means putting into play “a lot of little things” that make existing systems more usable or interoperability more effective, for example.
Glaser spoke with Healthcare IT News about his new book, “Glaser on Health Care IT: Perspectives from the Decade that Defined Health Care Information Technology,” published by Healthcare IT News owner HIMSS and consisting of columns he has written over the past 10 years for Hospitals and Health Networks.
Compiling the book helped him take the measure of monumental changes that have happened in the industry and to consider what the future might bring, he said.
Glaser also recalled advice that Brigham and Women’s CEO Dick Nesson shared when Glaser was 32 years old.
Nesson would say: “John, do what’s in the best interest for the patient.”
Glaser’s reaction at the time: “What are you serious, that’s not a guide?”
“It turns out that is extraordinary guidance,” Glaser said. “He shaped me in ways that were really quite extraordinary.”
Amid all the optimism, however, the healthcare industry is still grappling with some of the same technological challenges it has faced for a decade, Glaser said.
Information security and privacy is still a struggle and interoperability continues to be hard, the industry has made great strides in understanding how to implement and make practical use of technology.
“There are still some durable issues and challenges that we had 10 years ago,” Glaser said. “Maybe we’ll have them 10 years from now.”
Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com
