As a physician and one of the more visible members of our health industry team at Microsoft, I frequently find myself as the first point of contact for people who want to work with our company. In some cases this is other clinicians or developers looking for a job. More commonly, I get e-mail or calls from someone wanting to partner with Microsoft. The conversation often goes something like this:
“Hello, this is doctor so and so. I have just invented the world’s best, most fantastic new electronic medical record solution ever…” That’s about all it takes before my eyes start to glaze
I try to be polite and point out the obvious while not totally discouraging the dream. When I can, I point to developer resources that might be of help or to potential partners working on similar projects. I also point out that Microsoft is not directly in the electronic health records business. We went down that path a few years ago and found that it wasn’t a good fit for the company, with the exception of our consumer health platform, HealthVault. Instead, we collaborate with thousands of partners around the world who use our technologies in the solutions they build, including electronic health records, for institutions and practices large and small.
That has me re-evaluating my stance that the last thing the world needs is another electronic medical record solution—that all the innovation has already been done. Yesterday, on this blog I described what some of the best minds in the country (including Dr. John Halamka) believe the market is seeking. I think recent innovations in tech (cloud computing and storage, natural user interface, touch, the “internet of things”, big data, sensors, machine learning, apps everywhere, new devices and form factors, mobility, multi-media, etc.) have created new opportunities to re-imagine electronic health record solutions. Past generations of EHR/EMR solutions, often designed by engineers rather than clinicians, have relied too much on copying paper-based workflow. It’s time to rethink how we capture, analyze and share health information as well as who is best suited to perform each step of that workflow along the way. It’s time to admit that we have failed in our pursuit to develop the ideal solution or solutions, let alone solutions that are truly affordable at scale. I think we can do better.
So, the next time I get one of those calls, I promise not to roll my eyes quite so soon. If you are a developer, software engineer, or a clinician interested in improving health and healthcare by coming up with much improved EHR/EMR solutions, I hope you’ll stick to it. Also, be sure to check out some of the resources we’ve made available at www.microsoft.com/health and www.microsoft.com/health/ww.