On this episode, Niam Yaraghi (Brookings Institute) joins me and Shahid Shah to discuss the future of healthcare and Health IT under the Trump administration and the Republican controlled congress. We cover a lot of ground (breakdown below), but the general consensus is that we shouldn’t anticipate any immediate “disruption”. Sure, change is coming and we don’t know what it’s going to look like, but it’s going to take a long time for it to play out. Check it out and I hope you enjoy!
1:30 – MedStartr Momentum 2016 and the HITLAB Pilot and Connector programs.
4:00 – Isn’t change (even big change) a constant in healthcare. Why are we thinking about Trumpcare any differently?
9:30 – How quickly will we see changes? Will healthcare be “disrupted”?
11:20 – Be calm and optimistic. There’s huge opportunity in change, especially when that change could move control towards the provider and away from the payer by way of decentralization.
12:45 – We’re really looking at culture change and that’s where actual change will come from, but not for 18-24 months.
14:15 – Our constitution prevents disruption.
17:00 – If we more towards decentralization, what will Health IT vendors and Healthcare providers do with it?
18:00 – With centralization, you innovate slow and scale fast. With decentralization, you innovate fast but may scale slowly.
20:25 – If Obamacare is repealed, what happens to the patients who it insured? Also, Republicans have lost the “Obama excuse”. What are they going to do with their opportunity?
24:00 – They could repeal Obamacare quickly, but push changes down the road a few years.
29:00 – In healthcare, consumers lack reliable information and choice even if they get it. Niam makes a comparison to education, where even with quality information, we often lack choice to do anything about it.
32:00 – Does quality measurement in MACRA/MIPS focus on the patient at all?
36:00 – Nursing Home Star Ratings and hospital ratings have resulted in a shift in market share.
41:00 – What should innovators and organizations be doing right now?
46:00 – Data blocking. Is it real?
Also, check out Niam’s recent post: The future of health information technology in a Trump presidency