The to-do list for the year ahead for the members of the College of Health Information Executives (CHIME) is long and complex - the more reason to form partnerships, says one of its leaders.
"We cannot do everything on our own," CHIME Board member George Hickman told a packed room of fellow CIOs and other IT executives. Hickman ought to know. He is executive vice president and CIO at Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y.
He knows that at the very least most CIOs are facing work on meaningful use, HIPAA 5010, ICD-10 and healthcare reform.
It can be daunting, but teamwork, such as the partnership CHIME has with the American Hospital Association (AHA), and another that it has with AHIMA, can give more force to common goals. He noted that HIMSS and CHIME have offices in the same building in Washington D.C.
"Look for our two organizations to take joint positions on advocacy," Hickman told the group.
Hickman's remarks set the stage for keynote speaker Nate Kaufman, managing director and founder, Kaufman Strategic Advisors, LLC.
"Organizations that will win will be those that operate as a team," Kaufman told the audience. Today, he said, it's a "fend for yourself healthcare system," based on tradition, income and personality. He talked of two competing oncology groups that continue to vie for the same patients rather than partner to form a cancer center.
The medical home model, acute care bundling of payments, post acute care bundling and accountable care organizations (ACOs) are all likely to change healthcare as we know it today, he said.
"We need to move into a direction of team care," he emphasized.
The electronic health record will be the disruptive technology that will push the change forward, he said.
"If you don't have a fully functioning IT system by 2016-2018, there will be penalties," he said.
He reminded the audience that $1 of every $5 that taxpayers send to Washington is for healthcare, and that every hour 400 Baby Boomers turn 65 and enter the Medicare rolls.
"When you have unlimited access to a finite resource, you always have a crisis," he said.
