Center for Practice Innovation: Clinical Metrics show improvement

Information Therapy: No co-pay or formulary check required.

This was a big “a ha” for me while in attendance of the American College of Physisicans’ Center for Practice Innovations November Conference.

The title of the conference as “Focus on the Practice- Challenges, Choices and Change.” In complete honesty, my assumption was that I was going to learn about the challenges and difficulties of smaller practices in supporting the most current models of care. I did learn about some of that; however, my assumption was proven mostly faulty after seeing the presentations. What I learned about was about how smaller practices are actually not only getting there, but shining a light onto the rest of medical care through innovation.

I saw multiple examples of practices examining their care processes carefully and making improvements in the flow of information (even using LEAN-Toyota Management-waste reduction techniques).

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At Susannah Fox’s suggestion, I took the Pew Internet & American Life Project Internet Typology Quiz, and I came out as a Connector.

This is one step below an Omnivore, and I think based on the fact that I don’t watch TV shows on anything other than a TV (who has the disk space for these things). I certainly fit in the demographic described.

I can relate this to my sabbatical experience in that as I have visited new places (or even familiar places), people refer to me someone who’s a bit of a technophile (or even “geek doctor”). None of the words are meant in a pejorative way, and all are from people with whom I share mutual respect. In actuality though, technology doesn’t really excite me, or even impress me the way that improving systems and people’s ability to do things does.

In much of the work I have been doing around the Toyota Management System, there’s been a great emphasis on only using tried and true technology. Paper is a great way to organize one’s self, and I am finishing up the paper-based visual system for my work here. It’s great, and I’ll be posting it soon. My workplan focuses very little on installing technology and more on transforming care.

How I do relate to technology is that I want to understand everything it does, and I enjoy mastering it, so that I can have access to the most useful tools around. That’s more change agent than it is technophile, I would say, so I’ll substitute “Connector” in conversations from now on:

Connectors combine a sense that information technology is good for social purposes with a clear recognition that online resources are a great way to learn new things.

If you are reading this, take the quiz yourself and post your Internet type here as a comment….