e-Health -- it really hits home, part deux

As I was suggesting last time, I continue to feel we have a huge opportunity to remove some of the inefficiencies from our healthcare system.
I was totally unprepared for the "Healthcare in Ontario 101" experience over the past few weeks -- however, two things in particular caught my eye, namely:

• the amount of paperwork that must flow through on a daily basis
• the flawed aspiration of one hospital to deal with the above

This monster reared its ugly head when my mother was hospitalized, discharged and re-admitted on the same day -- I marveled at the amount of paperwork being shuffled between the hospital's triage and registration departments.
I also came across an article stating that The Scarborough Hospital (TSH) was planning to implement an automated work flow system (note that the link gives a summary, but registration is required to access the full report).
My immediate reaction was:

• is this a realistic plan?
• what about the other hospitals in the LHIN? Should they not be doing something similar?
• how is TSH planning to pay for implementation and maintenance, whether in-house or outsourced? 
• has TSH seen the recent prognostication for the future of our healthcare system in Canada?

All this brought back to my mind a suggestion from a previous article, namely: let the LHINs centralize the financial and IT systems for their hospitals!
No single hospital has (or can ever hope to get in the near future) enough funding to rip/replace their current setup, and still do a half-decent job of providing healthcare -- so why not?

There are many advantages that could result, namely (and certainly not limited to):

• a centralized financial accounting system -- the capability to monitor the LHIN's "health" in real-time -- forget this "monthly updates" stuff
• implementation of state-of-the-art inter-operable EHR systems -- an "iPad in every provider's pocket", so to speak
• centralized data management and recovery
• the capability to deep-dive into the voluminous amounts of data collected daily, to spot trends, issues etc., within their respective hospitals and communities
• huge volume discounts on purchases
• internally generated cash-flow as a result of consolidation
• the capability to interact electronically with its community

I hope I live to see the day!

Finally, in part 3, I'd like to discuss the one thing that I feel must happen if we're to stave off privatization of our healthcare systems.

Remember, good health is everything -- take care of yours!

Ernest A. James

President & CEO
Regal Informatics Inc.