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The new government payment paradigm for health systems holds enormous potential for Health Information Technology (HIT) companies. Providers’ future profitability will depend on their ability to achieve top-quartile performance relative to peers along two vectors: patient outcome and cost-effectiveness. To do this, medical systems will need to adopt effective Population Health Management (PHM) systems, especially for those poly-chronic patients that drive the largest costs. This dynamic provides opportunities for Health Information Technology (HIT) companies to provide those systems and partner with healthcare providers to power innovation. The bad news facing HITs is that many health systems are reluctant to pay for any software system, due to the expensive capital outlay and pain of implementation. The challenge to sell PHM systems is even higher within top Academic Medical Center (AMC) hospitals, as they are both the least prepared to address this challenge and the least open to working with new PHM solutions, despite the increasingly critical mandate to drive costs out of the system. The unique politics, incentives and siloed nature of AMCs make resistance to PHM systems particularly strong. As a result, HIT companies must take a measured approach to handling AMCs and the powerful physicians that practice within them. Gaining a foothold through the AMC is mission impossible; instead, HIT companies should build compelling pilots at more receptive points of care, and provide value-added services around pay-for-performance requirements that create organizational buy-in to a technology solution. |
