Healthcare Information Technology Research & Analysis : Coplan & Company : IT Procurement Management, Project Management, System Acquisition

The medical home dictates that the primary care physician manage a patient's care across multiple providers. To achieve this successfully we must help providers improve care using HIT.

For example, primary care physician cannot manage their patients effectively without a flow sheet. They need clarity as to the flow of their patients, the procedures related to each visit and the outcomes. With the medical home, the flow sheet challenge becomes exponentially more demanding due to increased scope of primary care physician responsibilities. EHRs include flowsheets, but who will identify the technology for clinicians? Who will provide the funding? Who will manage the HIT project, technology and change management? Health Information Exchange (HIE) is another critical technology for successful implementation of the medical home. The medical home will stumble without the efficient exchange of medical information amongst physicians.

Are payers willing to help clinicians with this technology? Payers have the money, but they rarely work cooperatively with clinicians. The issue comes down to payers making a long-term investment to the detriment of short-term profit. Will they make this sacrifice?