In February I visited Japan a few days before the Tohoku earthquake to complete my research on the state of healthcare IT in Japanese hospitals and private practices.
Since then I have worked with the US Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) and the Japanese Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) to develop a national healthcare IT plan for Japan in response to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor crisis.
Here's the finished report, issued by CSIS today.
I'm flying to Japan tonight and will be meeting with government, academic, and industry leaders in Tokyo and Kyoto until August 4.
As readers of my blog know, my life is devoted to making a difference. If I can share lessons learned from the US experience to accelerate healthcare IT in Japan, I will have repaid all my Japanese colleagues for the kindness they have shown me over the years.
My blogs next week will be sporadic as I travel the country as a missionary for healthcare IT.
Your paper summarizing how HITECH could be a model for Japan's future in HIT made for a very interesting read and provides interesting waypoint summary of what we have achieved and where we are heading with the US efforts.
ReplyDeleteAs we get more into the the nitty gritty of exchanging information, data mining and quality I see more and more need to emphasize the elements of standardization that you tackled in blog of April 8, 2009: The Data Elements of an EHR.
Without them we will only be able to go so far because we still don't have a common vocabulary. It is an issue that should be addressed at the outset, not when we are trying to make HIE work (though, realistically, this is probably when most understand the need for it).
Martin Kappeyne