Seated in 12B
The two hour flight from Denver to Chicago is the perfect amount of time to do some quick market research. Not surprisingly, I was seated next to an OB/GYN professor and practitioner for the relatively short flight. Unfortunately for her, not only was she stuck in the middle seat, but she was forcibly engaged in conversation about healthcare for the majority of the flight.
As expected, I showed little restraint in peppering her with questions about her thoughts about the industry, what EMR she is using, what she is currently worried about, and if there was anything in the future she was excited about with regard to healthcare.
We spent most of our time talking about electronic medical records and interoperability. It is very, very clear to people in this industry, physicians and vendors alike, that the challenge ahead of us is to find a way to seamlessly transmit medically-relevant data from one provider to another in advance of patient visits. It is a struggle she is currently dealing with at the academic level as well as in her private practice. She asked me my opinion as to how to solve the crisis of patient records getting from physician-to-physician, physician-to-hospital, and hospital-to-physician. I mentioned the Verizon Medical Data Exchange (of which MD-IT is a founding member) as the best hope we have to transmit narrative notes within the continuity of care. She admitted naivety about it, but assured me she would research it further upon our landing in Chicago.
Many of the physicians I meet, including the one I am married to, have a consistent tone to their conversations about technology that they use in their practices. There is an ‘us vs. them’ mentality when they speak of software vendors, especially the people who actually develop the technology. I am always open and willing to hear from physicians, practice managers, and anyone that has strong opinions about the practice of medicine in ambulatory settings. In some cases, it just takes serendipity and a plane flight to learn and listen to a very insightful physician.
I spend most of my time trying to get feedback from physicians and practice administrators, who are both understandably busy and overworked. I encourage people to reach out to us, me specifically, to help guide us in future product development. As we enter our 11th year in business, MD-IT has and will continue to listen to our customers ensure we are meeting their needs and are aware of their concerns.
I encourage anyone to contact me at info@md-it.com and ask questions, provide feedback and challenge us as a company to be better.
