Spend $20 billion on health care IT? Yes, we can!
One of President Obama's first health-care-related moves in office is likely to be the approval of some $20 billion for health care information technology (IT) as part of the proposed $800 billion economic stimulus package. While IT alone is unlikely to transform health care (because "IT use in health care will reflect the system it's put into, rather than transform it," to quote Matthew Holt), this historic investment is sure to bring some benefit to physicians and their patients – if the money is spent right.
The leading idea for how to spend the $20 billion is to let every doctor in the country buy an electronic health record (EHR). But technology experts David Kibbe, MD, and Brian Klepper, PhD, say not so fast:
"The new Administration and Congress are about to throw a lot of money at the health IT problem, and the conventional thinking is to buy everyone an EHR of his/her choosing. While we enthusiastically applaud the vision that this represents, a more measured approach would create a smoother and more productive transition. At the same time, it would signal the EHR industry that, for national deployment, they need to come to terms with issues they have avoided so far."
The issues they cite are:
1. EHRs are too expensive, upwards of $40,000 per physician in a medium-sized practice. Of course, the stimulus package would help everyone forget about the costs for now, much to the delight of EHR vendors.
2. EHR implementation can be difficult, disrupting practice operations and revenue for months.
3. There is no conclusive evidence that using EHRs actually improves quality of care.
4. EHRs are still not interoperable, which means providers cannot easily exchange data with one another if they use different systems, which they surely will.
So what's a better way to spend the $20 billion? According to Kibbe and Klepper, the IT solutions that have "more bang, with less turmoil, for the buck" are e-prescribing, e-referring, patient communication technologies (e.g., secure e-mail and Web applications that allow patients to schedule appointments online, pay bills online and view lab results online) and broadband access to the Internet for every medical practice and every home in America.
Posted at 10:38AM Jan 23, 2009 by Brandi White | Comments[1]
