IT offers huge promise for healthcare firms: Microsoft CEO
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Bangalore: The conditions are ripe for healthcare to embrace technology, an area where it lags at least a decade behind other major industries, according to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, reports Nashville Business Journal. "I am optimistic. The money is coming. The national debate has been engaged. And now is the time where our industry may be able to step up with some enabling factors and make an even bigger difference," Ballmer said. Ballmer headlined a panel of health information technology executives who spoke Wednesday to a Nashville Health Care Council crowd about the role of technology in healthcare. At the health care council luncheon, much of the discussion centered around opportunities for technology created by healthcare reform and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides $44 billion for the advancement of health IT. Agreeing with other panelists, Ballmer said that health care and education, have the farthest to go in adopting technology. That's particularly true of small physician practices and small hospitals where the majority of care is delivered,. Half of all U.S. physicians practice in offices with fewer than 10 people. Yet adoption of electronic health records at that level, is between five and ten percent, compared to 40 percent for large hospitals. "We look at the health care industry and say, 'It's not working.' Yet more than most industries, it is all about information - getting the right information to the right person at the right time," said Ballmer. So what does Nashville, with its broad community of health care businesses and investors, need to do to take advantage of the current climate in health IT? "My first advice is to start with the patient," said Ballmer. "Start the dialogue with the physician with the patient's perspective and the patient's information in mind. It may not be the most rewarding in the short-term, but it's the most transformational thing you'll be able to do in the long run."

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