Technology and Market Incentives
April 26, 2011 | In: Healthcare Barcoding Influencers
April 21, 2011
In the Conversation with Dr. Jonathan Perlin in this issue, Mark Neuenschwander commented that most hospitals have bar coding — in the gift shop! Bedside bar coding for dispensing medication has been demonstrated to reduce hospital errors and save lives, but few hospitals have implemented it. Why is it so difficult to bring new technology to health care? One of the reasons is economic. To argue this case, I will first look at two other industries where technology brings great advantage, and look at the underlying economic model governing this deployment.
For many years, I was involved in the development of technology for The Boeing Company. We weren’t developing new computers or mobile devices. Rather, using tools that were available from the market, we built applications that could create an advantage for the company.
Here are four examples:
- Using early personal digital assistants, we created a mobile tool for the airline mechanic, providing access to maintenance information and diagnostic tools. By tracking what the mechanic did, we were also able to automate the documentation of his work.
Much earlier, we developed mathematical algorithms to allow Boeing to simulate very large scale circuit design, long before any commercial tools were available.
We built software to diagnose problems in the supply chain in the assembly of aircraft, enabling the company to overcome the bottlenecks, which had begun to arise when trying to greatly increase the production of aircraft.
We built the first software to enable the visualization of an airplane design, freeing Boeing from building a physical mockup in order to test that each part in the design would fit together without gaps or interference.
To read the full article, visit ethix.org