Monday, August 6, 2007

eHealth Business Modelling

In my experience one of the most serious risks to any eHealth initiative is the absence of a sustainable business model. While we all get excited about the potential for improving patient care and increasing the efficiency of health care delivery through eHealth, far too many initiatives fail to adequately define the business relationships between the many stakeholder groups, establish a mechanism for information governance or ensure long-term financial sustainability.

I found a really interesting toolkit called the eHI HIE Value and Sustainability Model and Tool Suite prepared by the eHealth Initiative as part of their Connecting Communities Toolkit that provides a lot of guidance on the business aspects of eHealth as it relates to Health Information Exchanges (HIE) and Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO). The toolkit addresses market readiness, value assessment, risk assessment and provides a pro-forma business plan. This is an excellent site and resource. Check it out.

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