I am sure like most of you, I have finally recovered from a great week at HIMSS.  Although it took a couple weeks I think I am finally caught up on email, voicemail, reports, and thank you notes etc.  If I missed yours I sincerely apologize ….please drop me a note.  

I really enjoy HIMSS.  It’s always great catching up with customers, partners, old friends and of course meeting new people.  Although, what really struck me about HIMSS this year was the buzz around the Cloud, mHealth and their potential impact on Meaningful Use.  One only had to walk around the floor to see the Cloud “invoked” in just about every booth only to then turn around to see a tablet or smartphone demo.  It was very exciting to see and really made me think that perhaps Healthcare (in general) has for lack of a better analogy…turned the corner.  Discussion after discussion focused on so what's next?   “How do we get there?…..and while we are at it…where exactly is there”…”?   There was most definitely the mindset of “we’re not in Kansas anymore”.

Nathan Kaufman provided some great insight into what he feels the future holds.  Mr. Kaufmann was one of the keynotes presenters at the CHIME CIO Forum on the Sunday prior to HIMSS.  Mr. Kaufman’s presentation was titled “Getting Your TEAM in shape for the 2016 Healthcare Games”.  His presentation painted a compelling picture of the state of healthcare today and where and what it may look like in 2016.  One couldn’t have walked away from the presentation not thinking about the remarkable and almost incomprehensible rate of change taking place in the industry.  

Perhaps his presentation’s coda could be best paraphrased by saying “healthcare organizations must fundamentally challenge their current mindset.  Not doing so may risk not only the organizations very survival but also the execution of the primary mission. Improving patient outcomes.”

It made me think of an interesting Albert Einstein quote.

  "We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”

I believe this quote rings especially true for the current state of the Healthcare IT industry.  Can tomorrow’s healthcare challenges be overcome with today’s thinking or does it require a new mindset?  Can we really achieve Connected Care by leveraging systems designed when change was measure in months and years rather than minutes and seconds?  And… with so much to accomplish in such a relatively short amount of time how can healthcare organizations formulate a plan (or equation) that solves for today and prepares for tomorrow? 

I would submit it requires a new “equation” of sorts.  An equation that can solve for today’s known challenges and one that can also easily accept future variable input.  The ability for healthcare organizations to safely and economically adapt to this new rate of change is what will ultimately define the success or failure of the current industry-wide modernization efforts.  I believe this is one of the key messages Mr. Kaufman delivered. 

 VMware’s equation is the Enterprise Hybrid Cloud.  The VMware enterprise hybrid cloud combines the security, performance, and control of your existing hospital datacenter with the economics and business agility of the public cloud.  Our equation lets you leverage your existing healthcare infrastructure investments and helps you safely and securely move to the cloud of your choice. We believe healthcare organizations must have both organizational and IT flexibility.  Healthcare must be able to quickly adapt to more tactical daily challenges as well as take advantage of new unforeseen market opportunities. 

Unfortunately today a majority of healthcare organizations are literally saddled with hundreds of discrete applications silos each “requiring” their own server environments, typically with their own isolated server based computing environment and each silo requiring its own special care and feeding.  Time and time again I meet with frustrated IT organizations that have had little choice other than to build a datacenter full of “one-offs”.  Trying to maintain any semblance of IT standards and operational efficiencies is near impossible.  Deploying healthcare IT services like this is no longer sustainable or economically viable. 

Yesterdays thinking will not address tomorrow's healthcare challenges.  Likewise yesterday’s equation does not solve for tomorrow.  It will continue to only solve for the past.  A past that was much less connected and static.  

VMware believes that we can provide Healthcare a clear roadmap for their Journey to the Cloud.  One that will:

• Provide the organizational and IT flexibility Healthcare needs today and for what tomorrow may bring.
• Enable both clinicians and patients to securely access and manage their data anywhere and from any device.
• Provide the platform and development tools to create the next generation of cloud ready clinical applications.

I am encouraged to hear how our customers and partners are challenging the status quo.  They will truly be the ones who leverage the power of the Cloud to improve healthcare for all of us.

Thanks

Frank Nydam

@VMwareHIT

@fnydam

 In the meantime check out a video our new Ipad View client and how Children's Hospital of Central California is using it.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU0nF_FM–s