U.S. CTO: Better cybersecurity, better health care

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>> The president was very clear in his statement in May when announcing our cyber-security strategy. That we as a nation have both a challenge to keep the openness of the internet, to, to support the culture of innovation that we've seen all across not just the Valley but other parts of the country as well in terms of spurring game-changing ideas and products and services. While at the same time we have a real and, and growing cyber-security threat. The president's remarks there really affect this question on health care. It is not a question of one or the other. That becomes a false choice. The question is if we get the cyber-security framework right, it could fuel the next wave of growth on the internet infrastructure. I would say the same is true in health care. If we get the security and privacy aspects right, and instill the kind of confidence the American people have that in fact it will be secure and used in the right way; I think it will fuel a wide-ranging set of product innovations that will at least inspire the consumer market to ask for more than they are today because there's legitimate concern. But more often than not, the challenge is, I would say there's two more things I would say to your remarks. Number one, the president's also been clear that we need fundamental payment reform as a component of our migration towards digital health. That is, if our system today rewards sickness and care, it doesn't really help that you do an electronic visit or text message the, the pregnant mother who you're trying to keep on prenatal care so that she avoids a preterm birth. So the incentives are not today designed to encourage that type of front-end prevention wellness activity. So as the president has said very clearly, as we shift -- again health reform is the key, ladies and gentlemen. If we get health reform through, it will allow us to create a market incentive to promote that kind of wellness and care which hopefully when coupled with security and privacy protections and, and instilling confidence could spur a new wave of innovation to deliver on this. In fact, that was a large part of the discussion I had this afternoon on what -- just some of the ideas that are cooking in this community to get it done. I'll make one final observation: many people say in health care, "Well, the physicians don't like technology." Let me share with you this story: there isn't a doctor in America that I know today who has not downloaded a copy of a product called Epocrates. Ask your local doctor, "Do you have Epocrates?" It is health care IT. It is a tool that allows them to make better judgments about your medical, your medication usage. And it's an accessible format. And they all have found a way to adopt it and use it. They have it on their Treos, their Blackberries, their iPhones, and that, that gives me confidence that if we build better products and got the payment incentives right, you're going to see game-changing innovation.

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