Microsoft just announced Rounds, a Windows 8 application that simplifies workflow for doctors and nurses within a hospital. This is innovation is disruptive and thoughtful. It epitomizes healthcare. Let me explain.
Advances in medicine usually come about through the scientific method. When something works, it gets published and the rest of the industry benefits from the publication.
In my opinion, Rounds is one of these concepts that will provide enough thoughtful presentation to encourage innovation. The application is not yet connected to the back-end systems to make it practical, but that’s not the intent. The intent is to get the industry to think about different ways to do their jobs. In that light, I think Rounds is spot on.
Some hurdles that must be overcome to get widespread use of products like Rounds are high, but not impossible. Someone will need to connect this to a back-end system that provides patient information. There are many EMR systems on the market and some will be easier to interface with than others. Someone will have to find a way to enable Lync to create legitimate orders and to track the creation and execution of these orders via the patient record. Someone will have to find a way to capture Lync-based consultations and tie them to the patient records and, more important, find a way to get paid when using this kind of technology.
All of this is technically possible today. The obstacles are legal and procedural. For a system like this to function, it will take a leap of faith to get the compliance groups on board. It will take a lot of explanation and safeguards to convince those who would benefit most to embrace this change. It will take some pretty creative thinking for seamlessly connecting the back and front-end systems to enable this.
This kind of change is very disruptive. Yet, disruption is how major advances in healthcare begin.
