Measure twice, cut once. It’s an old standby maxim that carpenters use to remind themselves to double check their measurements lest they waste a valuable piece of wood.
We think that is what is happening in various aspects of healthcare reform today. At least that’s the intent, and if it isn’t, it should be.
Take for example all the attention and the time given to the meaning of “meaningful use.” To be eligible for stimulus funds set aside for use of electronic health records, healthcare providers will have to show “meaningful use.” To the impatient among us, it seemed to take forever to come up with the right definition for what on the face of it seemed obvious.
But there are millions of taxpayer dollars at stake, not to mention whether the use of EHRs will prove successful. We know they have in several individual cases, but will the initiative for broad adoption succeed?
It has to in order that the time, effort and money invested not go for naught, that patient care gets a boost and that the system become more efficient – that the wood not go to waste.
So, those of us who might have been wondering just how long it might take the federal workgroup to come up with the right criteria for “meaningful use” might have been let down when the group was sent back to the drafting table to take measure again. They did and now the criteria goes to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for rulemaking with a better chance that the criteria will fit the bigger scheme because the panel took the time to measure twice.
Among the criteria to show meaningful use of EHRs are more measures to be taken. Those are for outcomes. Physicians and other healthcare providers will have to show (remember, it’s easier to measure – in this case to gather and analyze vast amounts of data – electronically than manually. CIOs, business leaders, and physicians, too, often say that you can’t improve what you don’t measure. So, for those who are not already measuring, there will be an incentive to do so, and the result ought to be better patient care.
Of late, President Obama has been criticized for moving too quickly – perhaps recklessly on healthcare reform. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says the Senate is a deliberative body and it needs time to read the bills – there are three, each about three to four inches thick to read. Fair enough. While legislation, too, benefits from being twice measured, there is a difference between taking those measures and doing nothing, or stalling action.
We say read the bills, of course, take measure and take action. Reform has been waiting for 50 years.
At least on the healthcare IT front, we can be confident. The president has named to the federal panels on policy and standards some of the brightest, most careful and most successful leaders in the industry to advise him. Many of them have already demonstrated at their organizations how the application IT in healthcare can vastly improve outcomes and provide significant return on investment.
These are advisers who take care in what they do, who measure twice and then some. We trust they are offering fitting and meaningful advice, and that the outcomes will exceed expectations.
