1. Harnessing the Power of Healthcare Technology The right treatment, for the right person, at the right time Discussion: Health Information Technology Health IT is pervasive throughout all healthcare functions, but is manly used to describe the complicated systems used to store medical records, document treatment, store medical data, and administer payments. Meant to be a synchronous technology that allows hospitals to amalgamate many different IT functions to produce data about patient populations in an effort to track trends. Cost of purchasing and installing an electronic health record ranges from $15,000 to $70,000 per provider. * (Glasser, 2007) New England Journal of Medicine The Problem: to buy or not to buy… and what am I buying. Healthcare administrators and responsible investment in innovation. Conclusion: How can healthcare administrators balance necessary technological upgrades and purchases, with unnecessary but strategic ones? 1.The first step is differentiating between the two types of healthcare technology that, when combined, become the primary cause of skyrocketing healthcare costs in America (MIT Business Report, 2014). The Two Categories of Healthcare Technology 1.The second step is replacing the current technological arms race, which is pervasive though the healthcare industry, with a drive instead to produce outcome and cost effective technology. A popular misconception among patients is that cost is correlated to quality. This mentality is changing, as seen in the public outcry over the Mayo’s clinic investment in two new proton-beam accelerator therapy clinics, costing over $300 million. * ( Browning, 2014, 19 May) Proton Beam Accelerator Therapy Traditional Radiation Therapy *MIT Technology Review, 2014 Discussion: Medical Treatment Technology Classes of Technology, MIT Technology Review *(Skinner, 2014) 1.) Low-cost, widely used (Aspirin, beta blockers) or proven effective over time and not overprescribed (antiretroviral drugs for HIV). 2.) Commonly over prescribed, moderately expensive medication and utilization of equipment or procedures for patients that might not require these drugs, tests or procedures (Angioplasty). 3.) extremely expensive and highly specialized treatments and technologies (Proton –beam Accelerator Therapy). Advertisements (above) from Cleveland Clinic’s 2011 “unadorned facts” campaign. The chief marketing director of the Cleveland Clinic, Paul Matsen; “distinctiveness of the line art, plus the short and sometimes light- hearted text, was intended to set the ads apart from those of other hospitals (Brandon, 2011)”. Annual American Healthcare Executives CEO survey: Top priority: financial challenges 9 th Top Concern: technology only.5% of all medical studies look at cost-saving technology Proton beam therapy is promoted as a better treatment approach involving radiation therapy for prostate cancer. This is purely speculative. There really is not evidence at this point to support this notion. Much of the virtues of proton beam therapy in mainstream media is more promotional than factual! – Cleveland Clinic press release, August 2014 *www.proton-therapy.org Proton –beam Accelerator Therapy In a 2013 Yale study, led by Dr. James Yu and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Yu concluded that there was no evidence showing that proton therapy was more effective in treating prostate cancer (its intended use) than traditional X-ray therapy; The traditional X-ray therapy also being 70% less expensive than proton therapy. Even with this information, there are 12 proton therapy centers in America, and 10 more are under construction. “Cardiac stents were linked to at least 773 deaths in incident reports filed by the FDA in 2012”. (Waldman, Armstrong, Freedberg, 2013) Bloomberg Business ABUSE “Approximately one-third of TKA (knee replacement) surgeries were judged to be inappropriate”. WASTE “One in five spinal fusions sampled in the study involved equipment purchased from distributors that were co-owned by physicians, according to the Office of Inspector General”. Spinal Devices Supplied by Physician-Owned Distributors: Overview of Prevalence and Use. Office of Inspector General, 2013 FRAUD (Riddle, Jiranek,& Hayes, 2014) American College of Rheumatology Considerations: writing a check for change CPT Marie Hoffman– Army Baylor MHA