Hi, The 'users (hospitals and specially the doctors)' are contributors to the fragmentation and isolation that prevails in the healthcare fields globally. Other contributors include governments at all levels, insurance companies, regulators and judicial systems at all levels.
Which political systems attempt to support individuals with rights, rules, regulations that ensure proper, sufficient, competent healthcare practiced by properly trained, administered and regulated Practitioners? There are some but too few. I am mindful of the state of the healthcare industry in the US and the EU and often debate the differences. Setting levels of expectation at just a percentage of GDP is insufficient. Finding someone in the EU that will trade insurance premium payments with me is considerably harder to accomplish. Yes I believe that politics plays a role in healthcare, especially since governments are great 'allocators of resources'. Having said this I should point out that individuals are ultimately responsible for their governments and hence responsible for the allocation of resources to healthcare. We are contributors as well. I agree that in some respects 'users (hospitals and specially the doctors)' 'get what they deserve...'. Drilling deeper into each category (hospitals and doctors) has convinced me that this requires modifications since individual cases point out that control is absent. Doctors working for US HMOs are a case in point. Where you find the healthcare industry today is exactly where they put themselves. Historically they have received widespread unquestioning support which has gradually eroded. People understand the needs better and realize that there is a better way. Suppliers are typically business selling products and services into an industry that has established requirements, needs and objectives. They have some impact on the market based upon the products and services they provide. Would not place them in the key groups of parties responsible for the current for the current healthcare industry. The OpenEHR project is not a solution to the current state of the healthcare industry. It does, however, represent a trend that can place tools in the hands of Practitioners and Patients permitting them exercise control over information in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The 'users (hospitals and specially the doctors)' are quite diverse globally. A basic requirement for the OpenEHR project should be adaptable structure and applications. -Thomas Clark ----- Original Message ----- From: HOPTIMIS at aol.com To: tclark at hcsystems.com Cc: chris at optiserv.com ; thomas at deepthought.com.au ; openehr-technical at openehr.org Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 1:28 AM Subject: Re: certification and verification of OpenEHR Congratulations for your comments and remarks; it is the most interesting message I have read for months. However I have to disagree with what could be interpreted as a negative comment against "suppliers". I use to tell the users (hospitals and specially the doctors) that "?People get what they deserve..." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.openehr.org/mailman/private/openehr-technical_lists.openehr.org/attachments/20030804/ace44cfa/attachment.html>
