Single Source of Truth

The Clinical Transformation blog is about workflow – how do we positively impact the caregiver’s day by providing technology that is purposefully chosen based on process. Remember if you pick the product without knowing the workflow you want to achieve up front – then you are shopping for a book based on the picture on the cover not the content of the material.

That being said - I am totally enamored with what is occurring with device connectivity platforms and the flexibilities they offer. I am equally enamored by the marketplace shift that is occurring. Companies large and small move into a space as a disruptive technology, and it begins a ripple effect. This starts to shift our view of status quo and wonder – is there a better way?

One of the best parts of our growing start up is all of the interesting people I get to meet. Wednesday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Tom Herzog, VP of IT and Medical Device Technology – head of the MDBUS. Tom is a fascinating individual who is very intelligent and a visionary in the marketplace - I was blown away by our conversation and truly appreciated the interaction. He is someone to watch. MDBUS is Cerner’s connectivity platform that connects medical devices to the EMR. While MDBUS has several similarities to CapsuleTech (blogged about earlier) they have built tight relationships in the marketplace with companies such as Hill-Rom that allow them to garner additional information on an interactive touchscreen, and interactive integration software piece that allows a user to query systems using a handheld device.

The one items that stands out to me as their biggest challenge (this might be the elephant in the room) in the market place is the blessing and curse of the Cerner brand. Cerner is well known for innovative thinking and product development – if you have been to a smart room you would agree. The blessing of the brand is it’s trusted stability in the marketplace with a growing enterprise EMR market share documented at 13%(2006 HIMMS) which I have read other sites to be closer to 20%. This is a great base of clients who are prime candidates for “the bus”. As a relatively unknown startup – I am envious of having such a well known brand. What Mr. Patterson has done is amazing.

The curse of the Cerner brand is it’s tight tie to a specific EMR. While the product is designed to be EMR vendor agnostic - it would only be logical to utilize the product to position themselves in competitive accounts. Why would Epic invite a Cerner product into the mix? I could be way off base here but this seems counter intuitive. While it may occur – GE still utilizes Emergin (aka Phillips) Emergin as a standalone brand had the ability to be Vendor Agnostic but now linked to Phillips it is a leverage point to bring Phillips into an account.

All of that aside – the thought process used in developing MDBUS is correct – the product is really impressive. Open Source – Open Data – Single Source of Truth (as Tom would say) is important in healthcare. It offers significant abilities to decrease caregivers workload and increase safety.

I think that every hospital should be evaluating these types of systems and DOCUMENTING their validity.
What method are you using to see if this is garnering you results?
Is it going to positively affect safety, accountability, redundancy, and noise?
Is it affecting their caregiver satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and safety?

I think that Capsuletech (Brian McAlpine) and Cerner MDBUS (Tom Herzog) are fellas that you should watch – I know I am. I appreciate this interaction.

Who would’ve thought – a little gal from Kansas would be talking to such powerful industry changing people. All it took was Twitter and a choice to join the conversation – are you ready to join?

Thanks Tom – look forward to learning more.
www.cerner.com

Stay tuned – I am working on a thought provoking post about Cerner’s vision of allowing people to write apps to their Iphone and utilize the EcoSystem to share (possibly sell) that work. Probably one of the most innovative ideas I have heard in a long time – not sure I am on board with the ide, but I can’t wait to experience it myself.