The Next Generation Of Health Care
BtoB explores local innovators committed to changing the way the health care game is played.
by Allison Shirreffs, Laurel-Ann Dooley and Drew Ermenc - March 5, 2009
Innovation drives business - all business, regardless of SIC code. If your company is complacent or content, you will suffer, and possibly lose to those who are finding ways to perform better, faster and more affordably. The Atlanta business community is no stranger to innovation. A 24-hour cable news network. Branding and growing a home-style restaurant with a sweet focus on inviting, fluffy waffles. A start-up Internet provider with a mind of its own . . .
As the rising cost of health care becomes a significant issue in 2009 - both politically and it's effects on already-suffering balance sheets - innovation will take hold once again. Tough times breed innovation. So here's a preview of the people, products and services that are committed to changing the way the health care game is played, saving money, saving lives and creating solutions for today's problems in health care. All are based in metro Atlanta, and all are poised to make a difference. You've officially been warned. Innovation - it's a beautiful thing.
[Streamlining Solution] Rick Jackson Nearly 60 percent of U.S. healthcare executives who responded to a recent survey say their facilities lack the ability to track patients continuously. According to the 2007 National Survey on Patient Throughput and Capacity Challenges, more than half of those same executives rated their facilities' "bed-turn process" as poor or fair.
What if hospital wait times could be reduced, more people could be seen and it would take less people to do so? That's what Rick Jackson, founder and CEO, Jackson Healthcare, believes his StatCom software will help accomplish. By providing patient flow logistics and tracking across departments, StatCom will help health care organizations anticipate demand and manage potential bottlenecks. While some health care facilities have implemented patient throughput and logistics management (PTL) systems, a recent Gartner Report estimates the market penetration of such products as less than 1 percent. If that's the case, what are hospitals using to track patient throughput? Nearly 70 percent use phone calls and voice mail to track patients as they move through a hospital, according to a Patient Throughput survey. It's not unheard of for dozens or upwards of 100 phone calls to be made to schedule or cancel a complex procedure.
Charles Frame, executive director at the Emory Center for Healthcare Leadership at Emory University School of Medicine, explains that the historical infrastructure of hospitals led to a silo mentality and a hierarchal organizational structure. "In the olden days, the physician came to the patient a lot more," he says. These days, patients undergo various tests and, as a result, are transferred throughout the hospital. "Many hospitals aren't built for that," he adds. This silo mentality is exacerbated by the fact that hospitals aren't producing a product, they're dealing with human beings. "The sheer human element makes it so much more complex," Frame notes.
It's more difficult than streamlining manufacturing processes with Six Sigma, he says, "That sounds great, but it's a lot tougher to achieve." According to Jackson, StatCom goes a long way towards increasing efficiencies by tracking a patient's whereabouts in real time, alerting different departments and functions with the click of a button. Jackson likens StatCom to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and air traffic control. Aircraft are tracked from takeoff to landing, and shuffled if some run late or there is inclement weather. As the FAA is to aircraft, StatCom is to patient flow - from admissions through X-ray, bed assignment, transportation, equipment personnel, housekeeping and so forth - a patient's every movement up through discharge. Jackson believes that delivering patient flow information in this way "will significantly improve operational efficiency," he says.
"[StatCom will track] patients, equipment, roving C-Arms, MRIs. There will be increased utility of every asset. That all equals profit." Additionally, nurses will be able to reduce the time they spend on non-clinical duties and devote more time to patient care. To date, Jackson has invested $20 million in its development and considers the software "truly transformational." And transforming health care is what Jackson is interested in these days.In 1978, Jackson formed his first health care-related company, Jackson & Coker, a physician staffing company. Since then, he's conceptualized and/or developed more than two-dozen companies in the health care sector. In 2007 and 2008, Jackson Healthcare made the Inc. 5000, list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. (having grown from $92.4 million in revenue in 2004 to $372.6 million in 2008).
Recently, Jackson took aim at health care's bigger picture. "A while back, insurance companies came along and solved a problem. But now they're an unnecessary link in the chain," he says. Jackson has developed a plan to revamp health care that is based largely on removing insurance companies from the process. "They're not bad people, but we've come so far," he explains.While Jackson understands an insurance company's wish to keep health care costs down, the overall effect, he says, is that health care is no longer distributed by doctors, but by insurance companies. "You have non-doctors telling doctors how to practice medicine," he says, adding that it's inefficient as well. "Thirty to 40 cents of every dollar [spent on health care] is not going to health care." He suggests taking insurance companies out of the decision-making procedure and automating the process. The fact that decisions will be made by policy makers in Washington, D.C. distresses Jackson. "Government doesn't know health care," Jackson says.
"Everybody is trying to protect his turf." "By most people's standards, I've been successful. Now I want to move from success to significance - to create a legacy in health care," he says. "I'd like to say I had a hand in how health care is done."
To view the entire article click here: http://www.btobmagazine.com/articles/2009/march/the_next_generation_of_health_care.html
BtoB explores local innovators committed to changing the way the health care game is played.
by Allison Shirreffs, Laurel-Ann Dooley and Drew Ermenc - March 5, 2009
Innovation drives business - all business, regardless of SIC code. If your company is complacent or content, you will suffer, and possibly lose to those who are finding ways to perform better, faster and more affordably. The Atlanta business community is no stranger to innovation. A 24-hour cable news network. Branding and growing a home-style restaurant with a sweet focus on inviting, fluffy waffles. A start-up Internet provider with a mind of its own . . .
As the rising cost of health care becomes a significant issue in 2009 - both politically and it's effects on already-suffering balance sheets - innovation will take hold once again. Tough times breed innovation. So here's a preview of the people, products and services that are committed to changing the way the health care game is played, saving money, saving lives and creating solutions for today's problems in health care. All are based in metro Atlanta, and all are poised to make a difference. You've officially been warned. Innovation - it's a beautiful thing.
[Streamlining Solution] Rick Jackson Nearly 60 percent of U.S. healthcare executives who responded to a recent survey say their facilities lack the ability to track patients continuously. According to the 2007 National Survey on Patient Throughput and Capacity Challenges, more than half of those same executives rated their facilities' "bed-turn process" as poor or fair.
What if hospital wait times could be reduced, more people could be seen and it would take less people to do so? That's what Rick Jackson, founder and CEO, Jackson Healthcare, believes his StatCom software will help accomplish. By providing patient flow logistics and tracking across departments, StatCom will help health care organizations anticipate demand and manage potential bottlenecks. While some health care facilities have implemented patient throughput and logistics management (PTL) systems, a recent Gartner Report estimates the market penetration of such products as less than 1 percent. If that's the case, what are hospitals using to track patient throughput? Nearly 70 percent use phone calls and voice mail to track patients as they move through a hospital, according to a Patient Throughput survey. It's not unheard of for dozens or upwards of 100 phone calls to be made to schedule or cancel a complex procedure.
Charles Frame, executive director at the Emory Center for Healthcare Leadership at Emory University School of Medicine, explains that the historical infrastructure of hospitals led to a silo mentality and a hierarchal organizational structure. "In the olden days, the physician came to the patient a lot more," he says. These days, patients undergo various tests and, as a result, are transferred throughout the hospital. "Many hospitals aren't built for that," he adds. This silo mentality is exacerbated by the fact that hospitals aren't producing a product, they're dealing with human beings. "The sheer human element makes it so much more complex," Frame notes.
It's more difficult than streamlining manufacturing processes with Six Sigma, he says, "That sounds great, but it's a lot tougher to achieve." According to Jackson, StatCom goes a long way towards increasing efficiencies by tracking a patient's whereabouts in real time, alerting different departments and functions with the click of a button. Jackson likens StatCom to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and air traffic control. Aircraft are tracked from takeoff to landing, and shuffled if some run late or there is inclement weather. As the FAA is to aircraft, StatCom is to patient flow - from admissions through X-ray, bed assignment, transportation, equipment personnel, housekeeping and so forth - a patient's every movement up through discharge. Jackson believes that delivering patient flow information in this way "will significantly improve operational efficiency," he says.
"[StatCom will track] patients, equipment, roving C-Arms, MRIs. There will be increased utility of every asset. That all equals profit." Additionally, nurses will be able to reduce the time they spend on non-clinical duties and devote more time to patient care. To date, Jackson has invested $20 million in its development and considers the software "truly transformational." And transforming health care is what Jackson is interested in these days.In 1978, Jackson formed his first health care-related company, Jackson & Coker, a physician staffing company. Since then, he's conceptualized and/or developed more than two-dozen companies in the health care sector. In 2007 and 2008, Jackson Healthcare made the Inc. 5000, list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. (having grown from $92.4 million in revenue in 2004 to $372.6 million in 2008).
Recently, Jackson took aim at health care's bigger picture. "A while back, insurance companies came along and solved a problem. But now they're an unnecessary link in the chain," he says. Jackson has developed a plan to revamp health care that is based largely on removing insurance companies from the process. "They're not bad people, but we've come so far," he explains.While Jackson understands an insurance company's wish to keep health care costs down, the overall effect, he says, is that health care is no longer distributed by doctors, but by insurance companies. "You have non-doctors telling doctors how to practice medicine," he says, adding that it's inefficient as well. "Thirty to 40 cents of every dollar [spent on health care] is not going to health care." He suggests taking insurance companies out of the decision-making procedure and automating the process. The fact that decisions will be made by policy makers in Washington, D.C. distresses Jackson. "Government doesn't know health care," Jackson says.
"Everybody is trying to protect his turf." "By most people's standards, I've been successful. Now I want to move from success to significance - to create a legacy in health care," he says. "I'd like to say I had a hand in how health care is done."
To view the entire article click here: http://www.btobmagazine.com/articles/2009/march/the_next_generation_of_health_care.html
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