Dispatch from Scotland

I was in Scotland over the weekend, helping a multi-disciplinary group of academic and government leaders with strategic IT planning.Scotland, like New Zealand, is a remarkable learning laboratory. With a population of 5.5 million, a supportive government, and talented informatics professionals, it ’s theperfect storm for innovation.Scotland is driven by 3 urgencies - an aging population, increasing budget pressure, and an imperative to maintain high quality. All stakeholders in Scotland agree that IT is an enabler to maximize value.Scotland has a number of infrastructure components currently missing in the US. It has a lifetime national healthcare identifier.  It has a national image repository. It has a national emergency medical record. It has a single team for nationwide healthcare analytics.  It has a single set of privacy laws.  In my recent advice to the Trump administration, I recommended similar foundational work for the US.In September, the Prime Minister of the UK, Theresa May, released theWachter Review, a set of recommendations for NHS England that a small team of US and UK experts produced collaboratively.A few of us are likely to help Scotland with a similar report.I served the Bush administration for 4 years and the Obama administration for 6 years.  Over the next 4 years, I ’m likely to serve administrations in New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, China, and Nordic countries.  There is remarkable power in 5...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs