Technology Alone Can’t Deliver Better Health Care

by James Parks, Mar 30, 2009

George Halvorson

With the federal government poised to invest billions of dollars in health information technology as part of comprehensive health care reform, the AFL-CIO joined with Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance for Health Reform to show how the efficient use of new information systems and involvement of all caregivers—doctors, pharmacists, nurses and others—in health decisions can lead to better health care. In fact, Kaiser says its pilot program is using technology in new ways to cut cardiac deaths by 73 percent.

During a briefing Friday in Washington, D.C., Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson pointed out how the company’s practitioners in Colorado used Kaiser’s trademarked health information system to deliver better care to cardiac patients. The Collaborative Cardiac Care Service program uses integrated nursing and pharmacy teams that work collaboratively with heart disease patients and their doctors. The team is connected by technology that helps them deliver care. Activities such as lifestyle modification, medication management, patient education, laboratory results monitoring and management of adverse events are all coordinated through the program, which helps guide the patient through both short- and long-term care decisions.

“Technology itself cannot solve the health care crisis,” Halvorson said:

Our Colorado region achieved quality care results by aligning people and technology in the most efficient care delivery system. It was not newer or more expensive treatments, but an integrated approach to deliver the right care at the right time. Maximizing information for the clinician means optimizing care for the patient. As Congress and the president engage on health care reform, we must focus on the need to change the way we deliver care.

As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, “Front-line health care workers will be the lynchpin in transforming health care in this country.”

Kaiser Permanente’s success in using technology has underscored that the integration and optimization of a health IT system are dependent on people. Both effective computer systems and skilled clinicians are needed to truly change the way care is delivered and achieve quality outcomes.

This team approach substantially improved the heart attack survival rate for Kaiser patients in Colorado. The program achieved the following results, Kaiser said in a press release:

• Patients have an 88 percent reduced risk of dying of a cardiac-related cause when enrolled within 90 days of a heart attack, compared to those not in the program;
• The number of patients meeting their cholesterol goal went from 26 percent to 73 percent; and
• The number of patients screened for cholesterol went from 55 percent to 97 percent.

Research indicates that fewer than 20 percent of coronary artery disease patients are expected to survive 10 years after their first heart attack. It is estimated that Kaiser’s coordinated care program prevents more than 135 deaths and 260 costly emergency interventions annually.

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