2014 WEDI Board Candidate Perspective Questions
(Must be submitted to WEDI no later than Friday, September 14, 2013)
Name
Company
Betty Gomez
ZirMed Inc
Question #1
How can WEDI broaden its impact in the healthcare industry over the next three years?
WEDI can broaden its impact by pushing for the industry to voluntarily adopt better
information exchange models and efficiencies without having to rely on the regulatory
process. In the next three years, WEDI should be the leader in this shift from a
regulatory model to a more proactive, voluntary model to advocate best practices for
HIE, such as patient engagement and better access to health information for patients.
As an organization, WEDI can certainly play a crucial role in facilitating collaboration
among payers, providers, patients, and vendors so everyone is working together to
develop solutions that benefit all stakeholders.
Additionally, WEDI should expand its support for provider-to-provider, provider-to-payer,
and provider-to-patient models. By doing so, WEDI will play an active and influential role
in advancing the exchange of information between all involved parties. As the
landscape of the healthcare industry changes, WEDI can also leverage its industry
position to promote transparency and the seamless exchange of health information at
all levels. As the industry shifts to become more consumer-focused, WEDI can play a
prominent role by supporting patient transparency and new payment and encounter
models that empower consumers while supporting the financial viability of providers.
Question #2
How do you believe your service on the WEDI Board will help to advance the mission of
the organization?
One major challenge for organizations like WEDI is efficiently balancing the needs and
interests of multiple constituencies. In my current role at ZirMed, I face this challenge
daily because of ZirMed’s unique position as a neutral partner for data exchange
between all stakeholders, including providers, patients, health plans, clearinghouses,
and vendors. I can thus bring an unbiased perspective and help represent the needs
and concerns of all the key constituencies.
At ZirMed, our success is predicated upon our focus on making healthcare more
efficient and cost-effective. That perspective certainly benefits all the constituencies that
WEDI serves. My goals and those of my organization are well aligned with WEDI’s. Our
mission as a company is to drive down the cost of healthcare and create efficiency in
healthcare administration. Our forward-thinking ideas facilitate the seamless, accurate
exchange of data and add value through analysis and automation, and I plan to bring
our focus on creating win-win solutions to my role with WEDI.
Question #3
What do you believe are the three largest challenges that WEDI will face over the next 5
years?
One key challenge that WEDI will face in the next five years will be breaking away from
the industry’s regulatory model and shifting to a more proactive, voluntary adoption
model. This is particularly important as we incorporate new technology into healthcare
and empower the consumer. As WEDI begins to advocate for the voluntary adoption of
HIE best practices, we’ll be confronted with the fact that people have been conditioned
to only act when the government mandates it. WEDI should not only play a leading role
in advocating a shift in this mindset and encouraging organizations to think proactively,
but also work to develop solutions that offer compelling benefits for stakeholders, and
thereby create inherently strong incentives for voluntary adoption.
WEDI will also be faced with the challenge of facilitating interoperability throughout the
healthcare industry. The many different systems in use across the various specialties
and aspects of healthcare have made HIE extremely complex and inefficient. WEDI will
need to address this complexity, help fill in the gaps where they exist, and develop
standardized processes to enable the industry as a whole to work together more
efficiently and harmoniously.
Finally, WEDI will be challenged to conduct outreach to every sector of the industry,
from smaller entities to major enterprises. Current and future educational initiatives
should never follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Most of the time, only larger
organizations can afford to participate in WEDI’s meetings. We need to look for new
ways to expand our programming to reach smaller entities as well, taking advantage of
today’s technology to creatively engage different audiences. As an organization, WEDI
can strive to personalize its educational resources and products to meet the needs of
organizations of all sizes and types.
** Please limit your responses to no more than 500 words for each question and be as
concise as possible.
Please submit your answers to:
WEDI
c/o Nominating Committee
1984 Isaac Newton Square, Suite 304
Reston, VA 20191
E-mail: saustin@wedi.org