Brailer Comes Home

Posted on | June 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Brailer Comes Home

Dr. David Brailer, former Health IT Czar for the Bush Administration, has literally and figuratively “come home.” While part of the administration, with limited resources, he focused on the need for a coordinated national medical information infrastructure. It (perhaps by necessity) reinforced traditional power silos and an interventional system centered on a primary loop for hospital to doctor’s office to hospital.

Way back in April 2005, I challenged this orientation. Why? Because the true transformative value of information technology in health is the ability to re-center a new preventive health care system on a virtual loop of connectivity from home to care team to home, and in the process, reengineer the home for health.

When Dr. Brailer resigned from his government position in May 2006, he returned home to California. He has now professionally resurfaced as head of the new Health Evaluation Partners Equity Fund with $700 million in his pocket provided by his partner, CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. This $240 billion investing goliath has, over the past decade, flexed its financial muscle multiple times to move markets and to force large multinational corporations in one direction or another.

The fact that the group is partnering with Brailer deserves close scrutiny. Where will they point their investment? According to today’s New York Times, it will be into areas like “remote monitoring of patients, the management of chronic diseases, telemedicine, predictive genomics to tailor drug doses, and eBay-style Internet marketplaces for services…”

What’s missing? No money for electronic medical records. It’s a “saturated market” says Brailer (and he’s right for EMRs and PHRs, but not fot Lifespan Planning Records).

The opportunity? Tie health IT to services. Like what, David? Like “inexpensive remote sensors in the home of a person with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, so a doctor or nurse could monitor the patient’s condition and activities.”

How about investing in hospitals, David? Maybe… “but, mostly we’re going to invest in things that keep people out of institutions.”

Really!? Sounds like Dr. Brailer has literally and figuratively “come home,” and that’s a good thing!