Tennessean Publishes Editorial, Opinion Pieces Examining Health IT

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 10 Oct 2007 - 7:00 PDT

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The Tennessean on Monday published an editorial and three opinion pieces focusing on the use of health care information technology and electronic health records. Summaries appear below.

• Tennessean: The "efforts in Washington" by the House Committee on Science and Technology to pass a bill introduced by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) on health IT -- which would seek to implement an "efficient way to share relevant information" about patients while securing patient privacy and "a high level of standards" -- "deserves support," the Tennessean writes in an editorial. A hand-written prescription that is "probably but not certainly legible" seems like a "crude way to handle one of the most important aspects of human life," the editorial states, adding, "Health care is high-tech; sharing information on health care is often low-tech." The Tennessean writes, "Gordon appears to be on to an important trend in health care," adding that the bill "is timely, and the need cannot be overstated. Congress should move forward on such worthy legislation" (Tennessean, 10/8).
  
  
• Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.): The absence of a well-established health IT system in the U.S. is "costing us billions of dollars, countless hours in lost time, and -- most tragically -- patients' lives," Gordon writes in a Tennessean opinion piece. Gordon suggests that one reason why "the use of IT in the health care industry lags behind other sectors such as financial, manufacturing and retail" is because of "the lack of interoperable record systems that also ensure privacy and data security." He says that the legislation he introduced in Congress would "promote the integration" of U.S. health IT systems, "strengthen and reinforce ongoing technical standards work for electronic records," and "ensure federal agencies set a gold standard in their adoption, deployment and use." The bill also would "establish a research program for the next generation of information technologies," he writes (Gordon, Tennessean, 10/8).
  
  
• David Guth: Much of the health care industry "still balks at computer assistance for diagnosis and treatment, as if this responsibility can only be entrusted to people," Guth, CEO of Centerstone and a member of Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's (D) eHealth Advisory Council, writes in a Tennessean opinion piece. He notes, "Every other area of science relies on computerized models with great success, as do other industries. We're accustomed to, and even comforted by, the fact that computers back up pilots in the cockpit." Guth continues, "Health care needs to move beyond its reluctance" to adopt diagnostic IT more widely because it will "not only make the industry more efficient, it will help improve client care and outcomes" (Guth, Tennessean, 10/8).
  
  
• Bryon Pickard: "To be successful in improving health and achieve information interoperability, we must accelerate efforts to move away from inefficient paper-based information systems," Pickard, director of operations for the Vanderbilt Medical Group business office at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, writes in a Tennessean opinion piece. Pickard, who also is president of the American Health Information Management Association, continues, "Harmonization of technical standards and uniform adoption of industry guidelines will be essential, not just for direct clinical care, but for the vast opportunities derived from the many important uses of secondary data." He concludes, "We are making progress, and it is probably only a matter of time before consumers will be the true stewards of their health information" (Pickard, Tennessean, 10/8).

Reprinted with kind 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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