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EHR Strategist: Optimizing Workflow Critical


October 15, 2007

Lamenting that less than 25% of health care organizations worldwide are actually using electronic health records, a strategist for Intel Corp. said the key to wider use is optimizing clinical workflows before automating.

Ron Ribitzky, senior health care strategist at Intel’s digital health group, cited, in particular, the need to give caregivers easy access to decision support, such as clinical treatment pathways or guidelines, while using an EHR. In that way, the use of the technology can have a direct impact on the quality and cost of care, he argued.

Ribtizky was the keynote speaker Oct. 15 at the 2007 Healthcare Mobile Technology Symposium in Austin, Texas. The event was organized by Panasonic Computer Solutions in collaboration with several of its business partners, including Intel.

Once workflows are optimized, health care organizations must capitalize on mobile technologies that can meet the needs of highly mobile caregivers, the strategist said. “Mobile point-of-care technology is the purposeful orchestration of three technical ingredients,” Rabitzky noted, pointing to the use of mobile hardware, mobile applications and a wireless infrastructure.

One significant roadblock, he acknowledged, is that most EHR systems are not yet optimized for mobile devices.

To win broader support for EHRs, health care providers need to do a better job of demonstrating the value of the technology investment, the strategist contended. For example, they should measure technology’s impact on improving clinical outcomes and reducing costs through such factors as avoiding redundant diagnostic tests.

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