Kolodner believes 2008 will prove to be a banner year for health IT; his office will be releasing a health IT strategic plan in the next few weeks and A2 (AHIC's successor) will soon transition into the private sector.

Robert Kolodner, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, was a featured presenter at the recent Collaborative Communications Summit (CCS) Transforming Healthcare through Health Information Technology event held in Washington, D.C. He believes we are near or at the tipping point for IT to improve healthcare. At previous conferences I've heard him venture that the tipping point will happen sometime in the 2009-2011 timeframe. I've also heard him say that widespread adoption will likely occur around 2012-2014. But he's quick to point out that the problem with projecting the tipping point is that you don't know that you've hit it until after it passes. All the same, Kolodner remarked that people are recognizing that even if we aren't at the tipping point this year that we'll have to get there soon because we can't afford not to.

The CCS also provided a venue for the healthcare policy advisors for the presidential candidates to speak on behalf of their healthcare reform plans. Presenters included:

• Tom Miller, Advisor to Senator McCain
• Chris Jennings, Advisor to Senator Clinton
• Dora Hughes, Legislative Assistant to Senator Obama

All three said that the health care system is broken and that none of them want to put more money into a broken system. Dora Hughes was the only one that put a price tag on it with Senator Obama's assertion that health IT is a linchpin for reform, saying Obama would invest $10 billion over a five year period. Miller spoke on Senator McCain's behalf saying he wants to restore control to the people, strengthen competition, and reward for better models of treatment and that IT is crucial to these objectives. Jennings described himself as a "has-been, used-to-be", acting as a healthcare advisor during the Clinton White House administration. He advocated that Senator Clinton will make an investment in an IT agenda, reflecting that an IT agenda is necessary but not sufficient. Jennings noted that Clinton's sentiment is that you have to have an instrument, but it's not everything. During another session, Congressman Jason Altmire's surmised health care will get addressed right out of the gate no matter the next President.

Here are some other notable thoughts and comments that emerged from the conference:

• By far my favorite comment from the conference was "Disagreeing with health IT is like being against puppies and kittens."
  
  
• We are in an immature state with health IT. The market is still too fragmented and the vendor space has not yet stabilized. You would think that the Government would really get behind this national health IT effort, but they're "experimenting with a Petri dish model".
  
  
• Others argue that our expectations for health IT are off the chart and that Government is backing health IT efforts through organizations like AHIC 2.0 (or as it's now called "A2") or Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC).
  
  
• Progress has been slow because it's expensive, healthcare information management has been individualistic instead of collaborative, and culture change is lacking. IT cannot be a driver in healthcare reform until these things are corrected.
  
  
• We will begin to see health IT align around our own self-interests. Right now many of us do not pay for our total health care costs, but this is starting to change as more out-of-pocket costs are increasing. With this will come cries for efforts to eliminate expenses for things like duplicate tests.
  
  
• We need to get over the perception that we've already done privacy with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); there needs to be a uniform health privacy act.
  
  
• New York, California, Massachusetts, and Tennessee were touted as some of the more progressive states with robust health IT initiatives. New York was pointed out as investing $1.5 billion in EMR development. But just because they have the money doesn't mean they have achieved a change in culture that will increase adoption rates. Kolodner made the distinction that it's not always a statewide effort that is aggressive, but the cities within the states that are forging ahead with health IT.

One speaker put things in perspective by frankly saying, "Look to the right of you. Now look to the left. One of you three is going to have cancer." Now doesn't that make you want to put a fire under any efforts towards safe and cost effective healthcare?