Perot Systems' Healthcare Tech and The World

Country boundaries or even oceans rarely change the complexities involved in automating and improving the delivery of care. Political and social variations between cultures certainly change the landscape, but there are a wide array challenges that remain consistent throughout the global healthcare technology industry. Tim Lankes, international managing director for Perot Systems' healthcare group, joins Healthcare Tech and the World to discuss the common healthcare challenges that persist across country borders.

Natural disasters such as Katrina illustrate the importance of sharing critical medical information across dissimilar infrastructures, while at the same time, protecting individual privacy. New information systems can achieve both goals, but high cost and public mistrust present hurdles to adoption of these technologies.

Dr. Carol Diamond, MPH, managing director of the Health Program for the Markle Foundation, and chairperson of Connecting to Health, joins Healthcare Tech and the World host Dr. Kevin Fickenscher to discuss why new systems are critical to address public health needs, and how innovative data sharing models and effective privacy policies help gain public trust.

Staff productivity is often a major variablein healthcare efficiency and cost control. To achieve higher quality care for more patients at a lower cost, providers must consider methodsto improve staff productivity across the care setting.

For Empath President and CEO Dr. Michael Hill, improved productivity requires the application of technology and process redesign to impact quality and safety, while increasing staff retention and satisfaction. Dr. Hill joins Healthcare Tech and the World host Dr. Kevin Fickenscher to discuss why staff productivity has proved to be a defining issue for healthcare providers across the country.

Staffing shortages, rising costs, and the slow pace of technology adoption are just a few of the issues that are pressuring the US healthcare industry. Add in globalization, medical tourism, and the aging population, and the picture of an increasingly challenged industry becomes clear.

Peter Altabef, president and CEO of Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER) talks with Healthcare Tech and the World host Dr. Kevin Fickenscher about the state of healthcare in the US, and around the world. From medical tourism, to universal standards of care, Mr. Altabef describes how technology is leveling the field in terms of care delivery, cost and quality across the globe.

Medicare's pay-for-performance (P4P) initiatives are fast becoming a fact of life for physicians. Already, 34 percent of internists, 29 percent of family physicians, and 44 percent of physicians in large practice groups are being impacted by P4P according industry studies. In November's "Healthcare Tech and the World," Perot Systems (NYSE: PER) looks at P4P, and whether or not it is a major driver for physicians to widely adopt technology.

While doctors may not like the idea of technology interfering with personalized patient care, the pressure to treat more and more patients is prompting many to find new ways to balance multiple duties. Perot Systems (NYSE: PER) looks into the advantages and drawbacks of the use of robotics in care delivery in its sixth episode of Healthcare Tech and The World.

"The Doctor Is On" explores how robotics give doctors greater flexibility to provide care to hospital-based patients, anytime and anywhere. And while whizzing around hospital corridors with the help of a joy stick and a two-way video camera may rate high on the fun quotient, what promise does this new element to the virtual hospital offer in terms of the quality and the cost of care?

Kevin Fickenscher is joined by Dr. Yulun Wang, CEO and chairman of Intouch Health, to discuss how physicians are using robotics to multitask, while keeping a personal touch to patient care. Dr. Wang will share his views on how the combination of robotics, the Internet and wireless technology improve patient care, increase physician and patient satisfaction, and reduce the average length of stay in the hospital.

In the fifth of its podcast series, "Healthcare Tech and the World," Perot Systems (NYSE: PER) examines the evolution of technology in the healthcare industry, and its impact on people and processes.

Rapidly evolving technology is redefining the delivery of care, and the roles of physicians and clinicians. As the pace of innovation accelerates, how will providers balance resource constraints, along with the far-reaching impact that new innovations will have on financial performance, cost, and quality?

Dr. Molly Coye, founder and CEO of the Health Technology Center, a San Francisco-based policy think-tank for technology issues in healthcare, joins host Dr. Kevin Fickenscher to discuss new technological advances, and to offer insight into why these technologies signal a tremendous shift in healthcare. From the work load demands of clinicians, to the business models of integrated delivery networks, "The Future of Healthcare Technology" offers a glimpse into the technologies that promise to truly revolutionize healthcare.

As healthcare moves toward evidence-based medicine, a physician's success will increasingly be dependent on how well advanced clinical decision support is applied to the practice of medicine. What measures are providers taking to deliver meaningful decision support that improves both the quality of care for patients and the quality of life for clinicians? Listen now to explore the challenges of establishing methods to manage this influx of new knowledge while transforming data into meaningful decision support in Healthcare Tech and the World: “Knowledge Management in the 21st Century."

Host:

Dr. Kevin Fickenscher

Executive VP of Healthcare Transformation

Perot Systems Corporation

Guest:

Dr. Tonya Hongsermeier, Director of Clinical Knowledge Management

Partners Healthcare System

www.partners.org

Through its federal charter, the American Health Information Community was formed to provide input and recommendations on how to best address the key concerns that would impede the widespread adoption of an electronic health record for all Americans: standards, privacy, system certification and a national health information network. Dr. John Glaser, CIO of Partners Healthcare System and AHIC member, discusses the group’s mission and its progress on helping make health records "digital and interoperable, while assuring that the privacy and security of those records are protected, in a smooth, market-led way."

Host:

Dr. Kevin Fickenscher

Executive VP of Healthcare Transformation

Perot Systems Corporation

Guest:

Dr. John Glaser, CIO

Partners Healthcare System

www.partners.org

Length: 23:25 minutes

File Size: 9.38 MB

"Healthcare Tech and the World: The Operating Room of the Future," examines innovations in the operating room (OR) that have occurred as a result of real-time data integration.

While better, more accurate information translates into high quality patient care, providers must find new strategies to help clinicians bridge the gap between traditional workflows and the new level of responsiveness required for an information-rich OR of the future. Guest Jeffrey Scott, vice president of marketing for Live Data, Inc., joins host Dr. Kevin Fickenscher to discuss the realities of real-time data integration, its role in improving patient safety in the OR and how the virtual hospital is taking shape as a result.

Even as issues of privacy, security and connectivity are sorted out, the personal health record (PHR) continues to gain traction among consumers, and technological improvements continue to make adoption easier for patients, providers and payers. Notwithstanding increased acceptance and ease-of-use, there is still uncertainty about the role PHRs will play in national healthcare initiatives, in consumer-directed healthcare and who really stands to gain from widespread use. Dr. Ed Fotsch, CEO of Medem Inc., joins host Dr. Kevin Fickenscher to discuss the implications of PHRs in health care.