Kerry McDermott from West Health Policy Group sits down with ARMATURE’s John Gilroy on Federal News Radio
Thirty two countries in the world pay less for healthcare than the United States. West Health Policy Center is trying to do something about it with an emphasis on leveraging technology to reduce costs.
Recently, Kerry McDermott the Senior Policy Director for the West Health Policy Center, sat down with John Gilroy on WFED 1500AM to discuss the role technology plays for this goal and commented on policy issues as well. You can listen to the full interview here.
West Health Policy Center is an organization that targets reduction of spending on healthcare. Our insightful discussion ranges from wireless devices to sensors to advanced analytics to data sets. Kerry’s background includes stints as Director of Healthcare at the Federal Communications Commission and a Master’s in Public Health from Yale.
Millions of dollars are spent on initiatives like electronic health records (EHR) and other healthcare related IT projects. Federal IT professionals are charged with key elements in defining terms and judging compliance. According to Kerry, “At West Health Policy Center we espouse infrastructure independent care. That means the right care, at the right time, wherever they are, whenever they need it.”
Computerworld cites a current study of 130 hospitals where 85% supported the use of mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. Walking around a commercial kitchen with a smartphone is one thing, but when medical information is visible, one has many more constraints. Kerry discusses her approach to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and security concerns. Just last week, I interviewed the CIO of Centers for Medicaid and Medicare who had similar opinions.
ARMATURE provides enterprise data management systems to help organizations collect data from various sources. If you are interested in data collection, please read an ARMATURE case study to learn more.
John Gilroy hosts a weekly radio show on Federal News Radio, appears regularly as “The Computer Guy” on WAMU’s The Kojo Nnamdi Show, and is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Further information about John and his thought-provoking comments on the technology industry can be found at John’s blog.
