Q&A: TEPR founder Peter Waegemann

We had a chance to talk with Medical Records Institute CEO and TEPR founder Peter Waegemann on a number of issues, including how and why the show plans to expand its audience, and the future of health IT under the new administration. Here's some of what he had to say:

FHIT: This year, the show is supposed to tackle broader themes. What is the plan here? 

Peter Waegemann: We are switching from being known as the electronic medical records company to being a company for change. We think that electronic medical records really have failed in many ways to capture a major part of the healthcare audience. 

The reasons for that have been failed policies, in many ways. What we really need to focus on is where changes come from--the industry. 

Participants coming to the TEPR conference will learn that by the end of 2009, within the next 11 months, there will be millions--maybe 10 million, maybe 30 million people--who will have their personal health records on mobile phones. We now have systems (and presentations) where individuals who go to their doctor and get a new prescription may just say 'wait a minute' and [the systems] dial their cell phone. 

What TEPR's about is really changing in a number of ways; what that means for the physician, the clinic and the hospital is that they need to be aware of this and they need to restructure. It means restructuring for patient groups and new revenue streams and all of what is going on today. 

FHIT: Why change from being a niche show focusing on electronic medical records to something more broad? 

PW: We just feel that we cannot do justice to the audience of the conference by just focusing on electronic medical records. We have been doing this for 25 years and it is time to look at the larger picture and what really is affecting the providers more. 

We are really going to focus for the next coming years more on the m-health [mobile health] space. We will really be focusing more on what mobile phones can do for healthcare. We think that they will help make it easier to promote electronic medical records systems. 

FHIT: What do you think the new administration's impact will be on all of this? 

PW: What seems to be certain is that there's a focus on fundamental changes and those changes will take some time. And what we have heard, and still are hearing from the administration, is that they don't just want to push electronic medical record systems, but they really want to look at the financial transactions and everything else that is going on. 

FHIT: What new problems, if any, do you see arising with EMRs?

PW: The big question for the new administration really is if they will go on with the failed policies we had in the Bush administration. CCHIT (the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology) really has only focused on the most expensive EMR systems and has kept smaller clinics and physicians from buying them because their return on investment isn't fair. All the companies offering lower-care systems are being pushed out of the market in many ways.

At the same time, there hasn't really been much focus on the standards. We have not looked at all the technologies in the same ways other industries have. We really need to have a new beginning in both the standards world and the strategy world.

FHIT: Will the new administration be successful, in your opinion? 

PW: We have written to Obama and so have others and it is not that easy. I don't think anyone has a quick and simple answer, because what we have to keep in mind is the world perspective. There's no country where electronic medical records have been easy and successful. No country on this planet. Some, like England, where they have thrown billions at those types of systems, have bitterly failed. 

I think the point here is that workable solutions and standards will come from the industry, from companies like Microsoft and Google, and not from government or states.

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