Business
Will govt throw bucks at health IT without understanding the goals?
Neuberg says Congress should be careful not to throw money at health records IT before it understands where we're trying to go.
When he testifies to Congress tomorrow about the Obama Administration's proposed health-records digitization plan, Microsoft's Peter Neupert plans to emphasize focusing on "outcomes" not spending – even though Microsoft stands to realize a big chunk of the $50 billion being considered.
Neupert, former CEO of drugstore.com, told News.com:
When we decided to go to the moon, we didn't say let's build a great...rocket. We said let's go to the moon...I feel a little bit of the conversation is lets build a great rocket and hope we get to the moon.
Digitized health records are a national asset, not an IT acquisition, he wrote on a Microsoft blog:
If the country is going to invest $50B in incremental health IT -- we all want it to be invested wisely. The question is; what will generate the most benefit and how can we accomplish it? We should be building an asset with this investment - and the asset is not an application per se -- but a health data asset that can be used to improve both individual outcomes and the performance of the institutions and the system overall. Individuals should be encouraged to create and manage their health data asset and to learn how to share it to achieve better outcomes and interactions with the health delivery system.