1961 - The Year of the Electronic Health Record?

I stumbled across this unique video account of what possibly could be one of the

first concerted efforts to use technology to increase efficiencies and reduce costs in healthcare delivery. It is a fascinating account of a joint study conducted in 1961 by IBM and Akron General Hospital. The video is only a little over two minutes long and it is worth watching in its entirety, although the ending calls for your special attention. It feels almost surreal that 50 years ago the US healthcare industry started its attempts to use technology to address the same issues that we are still trying to address today: become more efficient, reduce costs and improve patient care.

I especially like the ending where Mr. Sherman from Akron proudly announces that they can now see "certain advantages taking place," that "it is going to be possible to relieve the doctors and nurses of some of their paperwork," that "it is going to be possible to have correlation of diseases which we have not had before." That was 1961.

Fast forward to 2010. We live in a new age today, new times informed by past attempts and marked by incremental successes and our optimism for what technology can do and deliver, and the lasting impact it can have on our industry and our lives in general. At NaviNet, we are confident that we are the tipping point of change in our industry, that the conditions are ripe for transforming how we approach, deliver and manage healthcare. We must do all we can now, so that in 2060, healthcare professionals won't still be grappling with the same issues that our proud colleagues from IBM and Akron tried to address 50 years ago. We have the right ingredients in place the perfect combination of advanced technology, government stimulus and Meaningful Use, interoperability standards and an urgent need and desire to get things done. We can - and we will - use technology, workflow and data integration, and a patient-centric approach to make our healthcare system more efficient and keep costs from spiraling out of control.

If you didn't get a chance to read our post on NaviNet's vision for unified patient information management, you are welcome to click over now and read about how NaviNet will play a central role in bringing mass IT adoption and efficiencies to the healthcare industry.

Regards,

Brad Waugh

President and CEO

1961 - The Year of the Electronic Health Record?

By: NaviNet Inc

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