With health information technology rapidly changing and growing – there are 40,000 health and wellness phone applications pending with the U.S. government, according to the National Institutes of Health – are the feds ready to move health care into the future when it’s still living in the past? This was the question in Washington last month when Politico convened a panel of health policy and technology experts for “Tech intersection: Health care of the future.”
Practicing primary care physician Dr. Jordan Shlain of San Francisco said the first place to start is email. “Where’s the connective tissue between doctor’s visits?” he asked during the April 30 discussion at Microsoft’s D.C. office. “Go to where they are – email. They aren’t going to go elsewhere,” he continued, referring to other ideas like sending patients to a website or online portal for contact with their doctor.
