True vision.

For the third year, Tim has given HIStalk readers a chance to nominate and vote on companies, issues, and people who are important or notable in healthcare information technology. The coverage of the issues surrounding the Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect project was voted story of the year. Tim makes the revealing of the top vote getters an affair, and he asked me to write something about the recognition. Here’s what I wrote…

Story of the Year: KP HealthConnect Issues

In 1970, Dr. Sidney Garfield, the founding physician of Kaiser Permanente, wrote: “Continuing total health care requires a continuing life record for each individual… The content of that life record, now made possible by computer information technology, will chart the course to be taken by each individual for optimal health.”

It has actually taken nearly forty years for healthcare and technology to catch up to Dr. Garfield’s vision, but we are so close today. Dr. Garfield was uncompromising and passionate about efficiency, safety, and prevention. I believe he would have wholeheartedly supported an electronic health information system for Kaiser Permanente that was affordable, reliable, and safe. I imagine he would have absolutely embraced technology that would have intelligently helped his physicians improve diagnoses and prevent medical errors.

I regret that we still have not achieved Dr. Garifield’s vision, and that, unfortunately, is the reason that the Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect project is being mentioned here. We haven’t yet had a truly honest, truly open discussion inside Kaiser Permanente about how to achieve Dr. Garfield’s vision, but we will. In a few years, experts say we could see $80 billion dollars in cost savings because of the efficiency made possible by electronic health records. They also say those same systems could help prevent as many as 200,000 deaths that occur as the result of preventable medical errors. Kaiser Permanente has been a key driver forward in healthcare information technology, going back almost forty years to when Dr. Garfield first wrote about his vision. We will overcome the challenges we see now, and like many of the advancements Kaiser Permanente has pioneered, the benefits will be seen across healthcare, not only in America, but around the world.

The past year was not a good year for Kaiser Permanente, but I know that there are 163,000 physicians, nurses, and other caregivers who believe in what Kaiser Permanente stands for, and who also believe in the power of Dr. Garfield’s vision for the future of healthcare. We will get there. And, I hope, next year, you will be able to choose the “Turnaround of Kaiser Permanente’s Healthcare Information Technology Project” as your top story.