Intermountain's Marc Probst on interoperability, Meaningful Use and ICD-10

by Dan Bowman, FierceHealthIT What's holding the industry back from achieving interoperability? One reason is that it lacks the "wow factor," says Marc Probst. The CIO of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, who talked exclusively with FierceHealthIT at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives' CIO forum in Orlando, Fla., this week, said interoperability takes vision and patience. "Inherently, standards aren't very sexy," Probst (pictured) said. "If we said we were going to spend $35 billion to put standards in place, it probably wouldn't have gotten the same lift as putting $35 billion into new EHRs. The political cycle is four years and you want to be able to show something" in that time. Probst added that while it's good to hear federal government officials talk more about standards, such efforts are akin to taking an ice pick to a glacier. "I don't think we're getting the lift that we really need as a country, but at least the conversation is shifting in that direction." Probst also shared his thoughts on Meaningful Use and ICD-10--with which many of his fellow CIOs are struggling. Click here to read the rest of this exclusive interview.
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs