CHICAGO – In his Monday morning keynote, George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, discussed how his organization has been using healthcare IT to provide 24/7 comprehensive data about a patient to physicians and to "make the right thing easy to do."

His organizational and healthcare IT goals were well received by audience members.
"The emphasis on EHR is extremely beneficial because in order for patients to receive real-time data and for physicians to share real-time results with patients to get more accurate and quicker treatment is essential," said Orstell Barnett, vice president of business development for ACS.

Barnett said this model will increase patients' accountability for their own healthcare and decrease waste and inaccuracies.

Ginny Meadows, RN, director of clinician knowledge services for SharedHealth, said Halvorson was "right on the mark with everything he said."

She said Halvorson's experience mirrors what SharedHealth is trying to do in terms of interoperability and the ability for physicians to manage their patient care, especially their chronic care patients. "We absolutely need to fix healthcare before we throw healthcare IT at it," she added.

For Ronald Frenette, senior associate for High Performance Technologies Inc., Halvorson's keynote was an educational session on how Kaiser Permanente works. The healthcare organization has a significant presence in his area - Washington, D.C. - and Frenette was interested in knowing more about the organization.
 
"I have a better understanding of the model and what they're trying to do," he said, such as more care oriented, doing more of what's better and implementing a physician-based electronic medical record.