Healthcare IT is a sleeping giant

March 20, 10:48 PMHealth ExaminerAngela Spears

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Dr. David Blumenthal, photo by Graham Ramsay
 

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has chosen David Blumenthal, MD, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama's campaign, to lead healthcare IT efforts for the administration.

Dr. Blumenthal, a Harvard Medical School professor who is also the director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, will be in charge of nearly $20 billion in stimulus funds earmarked for healthcare IT and efforts for adoption, according to the Boston Globe.

Healthcare IT, specifically The Electronic Health Records (EHR) is an electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports.
 
The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician's work flow. It has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter - as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface - including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.

According to a JAMA study, 180,000 people die each year partly as a result of medical errors.  Midland Memorial Hospital (MMH) in Midland, Texas, released a study that documented major clinical improvements following the full implementation of an EHR system. The study reported that after launching an EHR there was a decline in patient deaths, deaths among heart attack patients declined 27 percent, and inconsistencies associated with medication administration fell from 33 percent to about 13 percent.

The U.S. had been slow to direct EHR development through a federal structure and relied on efforts within the private sector.  However, with the funds earmarked by the Obama administration the major barrier to EHR adoption; the high cost of hardware, software and communications systems, may soon drive the implementation of a national IT system.