Experts Recommend Standardized Electronic Health Records and Information Technology

Experts Recommend Standardized Electronic Health Records and Information Technology in General Healthcare

In a U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing last week, legislators, the Bush Administration, and health care experts made the case for a nationwide, standardized electronic health records system.

Investing in health care information technology (Health IT) and electronic records could tackle rising health care costs.

It could save the industry up to $346 billion every year, estimated Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Proponents of a standardized electronic system also believe it would greatly reduce medical errors. Currently, medical errors cost the health care industry around $76 billion per year, reported the Kaiser Network and CQ HealthBeat.

So, how would an electronic system affect your health care?

Your doctor could start prescribing your medication electronically. They could also review your health records online and make communication easier between multiple health care providers about your health history — for a specialist, for example.

Doctors could also bill for their services electronically, making transactions with health insurers more efficient and accurate.

Basically, an electronic system could make it easier for doctors to do their job — providing high-quality care for you.

One important element of an electronic health care system is standardization.

“Developing a multi-state, interoperable system depends on national technical standards as well as national uniform standards for confidentiality and security,” said president of the Health Care Leadership Council, Mary Grealy.

“Health IT alone adds little to no value, and if developed in isolation from other critical reforms is likely to be the next festival of waste,” added Laura Adams, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute.

So if a standardized electronic health care system is so great, then why don’t we have one?

Patient privacy.

The privacy issue is a major concern when health care records are readily available online. If a care provider is allowed access your health records electronically, who else could can? An employer? A school or university? A health insurance company?

Worries about patient privacy have been the driving reason efforts to implement electronic systems have been derailed in the past.

But still, health care information technology seems to be a vital part of future health care reform.

“Health IT undergirds virtually every major health care reform initiative being advanced today,” Adams also said.

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