Integrating IT...for Patient Safety

"Many great ideas falter because of technology — or more specifically, the difficulty in integrating to legacy systems."

Here's how the story goes - hospital invests in millions in an EHR product. That EHR product is slow to change. The hospital wants to try out more innovative technologies. Those technologies can't integrate with the EHR (or worse, the EHR is in a place to refuse integrations). The clinical staff needs new technologies to integrate with the EHR. Innovation is stifled.

Something has to give and the power lies in the hands of decision makers at the hospital and healthcare systems. Silos of technology innovation without integration (or collaboration across the organization) can provide short-term forward movement, but it just kicks the can down the road. Make a plan for an integrated technology strategy then make it work.

This article from TechCrunch does a great job of hitting the main point:

"While walled gardens in other sectors of business annoy consumers, such business practices in healthcare hurt patients."