The health care industry needs to use IT
better, but many doctors and hospitals are
concerned about implementing technology such as
electronic health records without
interoperability standards in place, members of
a new U.S. government task force focusing on
health IT said Monday.
Early pioneers of electronic health records
face significant risks, even though U.S.
President George Bush is pushing for electronic
health records to be available to all U.S.
residents by 2014, said speakers at the first
meeting of the Commission on Systemic
Interoperability. The commission, established in
the December 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, is
charged by Congress with creating a strategic
plan for the nation's health IT
infrastructure.
While some large hospitals and medical
practices have moved to electronic health
records, many other hospitals and doctors fear
that electronic health record software they buy
now might not work with standards eventually
adopted by the health care industry or the
government, said Dr. Mark Leavitt, medical
director of the Healthcare Information
Management Systems Society. Without widespread
adoption, the cost of electronic health record
technology remains high, and smaller hospitals
and practices are hesitant to use the technology
until the cost goes down and the industry has
interoperability standards, he added.
"Those who adopt electronic health records
now do so at a disadvantage," said Dr. David
Brailer, appointed by Bush in May to be the
national health care information technology
coordinator. "It's unclear whether (early
adopters) are financing everyone else, or
whether it's better to wait."
In addition, health care providers are
concerned that they won't see much direct
cost-savings benefits from the costly conversion
to electronic health records -- laboratories,
pharmacies and consumers are more likely to
benefit after doctors and hospitals switch to
electronic health records, Leavitt said.
"You could spent time and money and end up
with nothing," Leavitt said. "What we have now
is a deadlock."
Under the current health care insurance
system, providers have little incentive to adopt
new technologies, said Dr. Barry Blumenfeld,
associate director of clinical informatics
research and development at Partners Healthcare
System Inc., based in Massachusetts. "Providers
aren't reimbursed or financially rewarded for
sharing information," he said.
More than 90 percent of medical practices
with fewer than 50 doctors do not make
significant use of IT, Leavitt said. But in many
large hospitals and practices, electronic health
records are used by 50 percent of doctors,
Brailer said.
"I think the challenge is not adoption, the
challenge is the adoption gap," Brailer
said.
Advocates of electronic health records say
health records, which can follow patients
wherever they go, are the foundation for
widespread adoption of IT in the health care
industry. The records are convenient for
patients, can significantly reduce medical
errors and can help public health experts track
health problems in populations, advocates
say.
The health care industry needs to adopt
technology to cut skyrocketing costs and to
improve efficiency, said Scott Wallace,
president and chief executive officer of the
National Alliance for Health Information
Technology and chairman of the new
commission.
"It's a cause that has the best potential for
transforming health care in America for the
better," added Tommy Thompson, U.S. secretary of
health and human services, speaking to the
commission.
Despite the current concerns, electronic
health records are essential to the future of
the health care industry, said Gary Mecklenburg,
president and chief executive officer of
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, based in
Chicago.
"Those of us in health care have to get over
thinking this is a choice," Mecklenburg said.
"We must have technology. It's the cost of doing
business -- that's what we have to get
over."
The commission has until October to come up
with a plan for interoperability among health IT
systems.
.gif){kind=spacer}
.gif){kind=spacer}
