As CIO of HealthPartners, the country's largest consumer-governed nonprofit healthcare organization, Alan Abramson has been at the forefront of some of the most innovative uses of technology in the healthcare industry.
For the past decade, Abramson has helped HealthPartners develop an integrated electronic health records (EHR) system for physicians and patients and established a collaborative exchange network that allows providers and payors throughout Minnesota to share clinical and administrative data in real time. In August, HealthPartners became one of the first organizations in the country to integrate electronic X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT scans, and radiology reports into patients' EHRs. The technology has helped doctors at Regions Hospital, in St. Paul, Minn., and 25 HealthPartners clinics reduce radiology report turnaround time from two days to four hours.
“What's made this possible is the level of standardization the healthcare industry has moved to and the cooperation between vendors not to feel threatened and believe they have to wall off their intellectual property,” Abramson contends. “You can get substantial advantage out of IT investments by looking at areas where there is no competitive advantage and collaborating with competitors to lower the cost for everybody.”
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
