I did an unhealthy red-eye and 24 hour total stay in Paris this week to make a keynote presentation on our vision for health IT and on how registries could greatly improve quality here in the US and internationally at an invitation-only meeting organized by Sanofi and others in Paris.

Europe and other countries are behind our progress in these regards. I imparted a lot and also learned a great deal from other presenters, including about the growing interest of consumer groups in our activities, and about the growing interest in improving medication adherence everywhere. Some of the best results in that latter category seem related to pilots where health insurers pay for the outpatient drugs 100% if adherence is measured and tracked. 

Everybody, however, interprets the recent JAMA article on relationships with industry as potentially spoiling any genuine partnerships that might otherwise develop to improve patient care via registries and professional societies.

Merck and other companies are also hard at work on researching how to improve adherence. We have learned a lot from their sharing of their research, along with ideas from the Veterans Association, MedCo, and others -- who like us, know that in addition to improved prevention strategies, adherence has to be a critical priority if we intend to reduce morbidity significantly in the near future. This will important in preventing readmissions as well.

*** Image from Flickr (macwagen). ***