Health Informatics Platforms

Barack Obama (20 January 2009): "We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost."

These words form the foundation of the next platform for healthcare to jump into a second curve paradigm. Ian Morrison goes into significant more detail about how business practices need to manage change under a business model that leverages information technology to achieve higher levels of performance. Stoecklein adapts these principals and applies them to healthcare in his chapter on quality improvement systems.

Stoecklein, M. “Quality Improvement Systems, Theories and Tools,” in Ransom, S.B et al (eds) The Healthcare Quality Book. Chicago: H.A.P., 2005, pp. 63-86.

I firmly believe that we are maxed out on our first curve accomplishments within healthcare. While we continue to put more resources into the sytem, our yield does not translate into higher impacts or better outcomes in terms of the overall health of the community. It is time for us to rethink the underlying mechanisms that we have devised in healthcare delivery systems.

Human factors analysis and human systems integration are excellent frameworks for us to approach this relatively new field of management science. HSI takes into account many different factors regarding manpower, personnel, training, human factors engineering, safety, environment, occupational health, habitability, and survivability (USAF HSI doctrine). If we simply approached our underlying structure, process, and outcome measurement (Donabedian) according to these principles, we could start asking the important questions about optimization.

The Defense Health Information Management Systems (DHIMS) have put a by name request for me to work with them starting this summer. My sincere hope is that Air Force leadership will see the value of putting a flight surgeon with clinical and operational experience into this role so that we can leverage better health informatics platforms within the Military Health System. Some folks within the RAM community would like me to do other things within HSI or at base level. At this point, I am simply waiting for the other shoe to drop when the paperwork hits the desks of the Air Force functionals and they must decide whether to support the request. I put this entire process in God's hands last week, so I am simply awaiting my next opportunity to serve.

If this assignment does not work out, I can at least know that I tried. The fact that this door has opened at this time is a calling that I can't help but follow. I must have the faith that opportunities like this exist for a reason and I would be remiss to let this one pass without a wholehearted attempt. I recognize that this goal is outside the typical RAM route but the rewards could not just be good but great.

"No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done." -Chuck Yeager