Where ’ s Our National Health Tech Academy

By KIM BELLARD It has been said that if your company has a Chief Innovation Officer or an Innovation Department, it’s probably not a very innovative company. To be successful, innovation has to be part of a company’s culture, embraced widely, and practiced constantly.   Similarly, if your company has a Chief Digital Officer, chances are “digital” is still seen as a novelty, an adjunct to the “real” work of the company. E.g., “digital health” isn’t going to have much effect on the healthcare system, or on the health of those using it, until it’s a seamless part of that system and their lives. What got me thinking about this, oddly enough, was a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) as to the advisability of a Federal Academy – “similar to the military academies” – to develop digital expertise for government agencies.  As the GAO noted: “A talented and diverse cadre of digital-ready, tech-savvy federal employees is critical to a modern, efficient government.” Boy, howdy; you could say that about employees in a “modern, efficient” healthcare system too.  The GAO convened a panel of technology experts from across the government, academia, and non-profit organizations to help evaluate the problem(s) and potential solutions. The panel identified a variety of short and long-term needs for digital expertise, including updating legacy systems, applying advanced technologies (e.g. AI), manag...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Medical Practice workforce Cybersecurity GAO Government Accountability Office health technology National Academy of Medicine updating legacy systems Source Type: blogs