In a recent Forbes article, Ed Sperling discussed the immense impact that IT can have on the healthcare industry. Although we have discussed this topic a few times, we thought the insight that Geoff Brown, CIO at Inova Health System, offered in Ed’s article was extremely insightful and corroborated our case that a number of hospital processes have plenty of room for improvement – many of which can be automated with BPM technology. Sperling says the healthcare industry has two contrasts. “On one hand, it employs the best that medical science has to offer. On the other, it is one of the least automated sectors from an IT standpoint.”

Geoff says Inova Health is implementing IT changes in phases. Right now, they are in the process of computerizing physician order entries. The next step is to create systems that will capture and store hospital information. These types of process improvements are slowly being implemented in hospitals across the country.

In a recent eWeek podcast, Laura Mooney, VP of Corporate Communications for Metastorm, explains how to improve the process management practices that are holding back advances in health care IT.

Healthcare IT has received quite a bit of buzz lately – namely because improvements in IT directly impact the quality of care for patients. An article in Fierce Healthcare notes that “improved documentation is key to healthcare’s future.” The article highlighted findings from a recent study conducted by the Health Management Academy that revealed the top three best practices for successful hospitals:

• Stronger strategic planning to solve the root causes of key emergency department (ED) issues, such as throughput, patient satisfaction and capacity;
• A corporate executive designated to oversee ED management and performance system-wide, considering it a core business area; and
• Greater utilization of information technology solutions

While a number of factors affect the progression of the healthcare industry – it is certain that IT will play a major role in the coming years as hospitals across the country begin to find value and necessity in making technology investments that will improve their processes and ultimately the quality of care they are able to deliver to patients.

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