Editorial, Opinion Piece Address Adoption of Health Care Information Technology

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 26 Jul 2005 - 14:00 PDT

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An editorial and an opinion piece recently addressed issues related to health care information technology. Summaries appear below.

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Health care IT "seems like the right prescription for a health care system whose costs are out of control," according to a Journal-Constitution editorial. The editorial states that a new Medicare initiative to donate software to physicians to encourage them to use electronic health records and a separate bill that would encourage the use of computerized records offer consumers and employers "the promise of some relief" from the "ever-increasing financial burden" of health insurance costs (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/25).
  


• Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), San Francisco Chronicle: The U.S.'s "underinvestment in health information technology has dire consequences for all Americans," Frist writes in a Chronicle opinion piece. According to Frist, a bill he is co-sponsoring with Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) "would begin the process of setting up a system that allows data sharing, available everywhere, and protects privacy while rewarding quality." Frist writes that the "entire country should have the highest quality care we can afford, along with electronic medical records" similar to those used by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He concludes, "If we create privacy-protected electronic medical records for every citizen who wants them, we will save money and, most important, we will save lives" (Frist, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/24).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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