In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Paul Markham, president of V3 Health Strategy, a blockchain AI consultancy firm in Milwaukee.
Mr. Markham will speak during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies" at 9:55 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: How does your organization gain physician buy-in when it is implementing a new technology or solution?
Paul Markham: This is an area I have deep interest in, due to the fact I wrote a PhD specifically related to leadership and physician acceptance of technology. In essence, the key to buy-in success is to select the correct type of physician leaders or sponsor to drive buy-in, generally holding the title of CMIO. Research demonstrated the need for a Columbo style, self-deprecating approach. This may seem counterintuitive, but this type will gain physician buy-in. A highly credentialed autocratic leader or sponsor creates resistance. Get Columbo in your house and adoption will increase.
Q: What's one conviction in healthcare that needs to be challenged?
PM: Healthcare in itself, because we need to be frank and honest and understand today we are all involved in reactive SickCare. In essence, to begin to move the needle in a dramatic way, there needs to be a challenge of the sick care paradigm. Healthcare leaders need to more readily embrace and evaluate advanced proactive healthcare procedures and processes, such as blockchain and true consumer-oriented longitudinal patient records from a technology perspective, and stem cell therapy and other genomics-driven healthcare from a science perspective.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about health IT?
PM: That EMRs are the answer. Electronic medical records were built around the bill and the building; we don't live in the building. Electronic medical records are, at best, fragmented and episodic. We all live a longitudinal life. Until we have a true unique identifier and a longitudinal record, the EMR is nothing more than another layer of data on the old-style hospital information system.