Frectally speaking

Dr John Halamka, my US colleague with a shared interest in change, emergency medicine and informatics, has built a reputation as an international leader in healthcare informatics.

His blog “Life as a Healthcare CIO” is regularly good value and a testament to Johns work ethic, his passion to make a difference in the world and his mastery of many diverse fields.

In a recent posting he shares his advice on the Japanese Healthcare system as it recovers from its recent crises.

His paper “Addressing Japan’s Healthcare Challenges with Information Technology: Recommendations from the U.S. Experience” is brief but holds much salient advice for any healthcare jurisdiction.

I’ll pick out 3 key points from the advice he shares that are worth a mention;

• “Do not “rip and replace” existing successful systems; instead focus on achieving broad
  functionality for as many caregivers in a local area as possible. Experience in countries like the
  United Kingdom has illustrated that it is often better to move forward rapidly with what is
  possible at the local level rather than attempt to provide a single centralized set of applications.”
• “Encourage personal health records for patients who want to use them”.
• “Create a national emergency care database from existing data sources and add new data sources
  in a federated fashion as they become available.”

You’ll note from his analysis that two diverse healthcare systems (US and Japan)  share challenges and potential solutions…

As ever John thanks for sharing your good work ..