By Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick
Twitter: @drnic1
Host of Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist – #TheIncrementalist
On this episode I talked to Colin Banas, MD Chief Medical Officer of DrFirst (@DrFirst) a company looking to unite the “Healthiverse” and shatter the silos in our healthcare data. Colin started out as a hospitalist working at VCU but quickly became involved in healthcare technology working alongside others to develop early implementations of electronic medical records and Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) before widespread adoption that came following the introduction of Meaningful Use.
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He brings all of that experience to his new role with DrFirst, a company that started life as an electronic prescribing solution but has grown to much more with solutions around controlled substances, prior authorization, price transparency, and medication management and reconciliation
We talk about the origins of Prior Authorization, why it came about and the challenges of the system that consumes so much time for clinical staff already burdened with administrative requirements that take them away from patient care. As he shares, in one survey 20% of physicians said the process had contributed “serious outcomes such as a hospitalization or even a death”.
We discuss some of the potential ways to reduce the burden, including providing real time access to authorization requirements at the time of consultation, based on access to the full patient record and knowledge of insurance requirements allowing clinicians to discuss potential choices that are friction free for the patient.
We discuss how far healthcare lags behind other industries, the importance of digital health, a digital front door, open notes, patient engagement and how best to achieve success with an engaged patient that has demonstrated a higher medication adherence and improved outcomes.
Friction Breeds Innovation
Listen in to hear Colin’s views on consumerism, the value of friction in driving innovation and how to bring solutions to our fragmented healthcare system and the distributed un-integrated data and what you need to do to be a ‘Smart Healthcare System’.
About the Show
For years Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick, has served as a voice on the impact of new technologies on healthcare, earning a reputation as a leading authority on where the future of medicine is going. Combining powers of observation and real world experience, Dr. Nick has seen many predictions come true and makes the case that innovations in healthcare can be accomplished incrementally, not just by moonshot events. Tune in to hear Dr. Nick: The Incrementalist and his guests discuss what the future of healthcare looks like, how we will get there, and what it will take to improve healthcare for all.
This article was originally published on the Dr. Nick – The Incrementalist blog and is republished here with permission.