hot topic | HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
CONNECTING THE DOCS FOR BETTER HEALTH CARE
CAPITOL IDEAS
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JAN./FEB. 2010
32
Information technology advocates believe connecting the docs might lead to lower costs and better health care for patients. And after Congress included funding for the development of health information technology in the 2009 Recovery Act, many believe now is the time to ramp up efforts in the states. It is, after all, a lengthy process. Just ask Delaware Health Care Commission Executive Director Paula Roy. The state legislature created the commission in 1997 with a goal of developing a statewide health information exchange where health care providers could gain information about a patient electronically. Ten years later, in March 2007, the Delaware Health Information Network, a public-private partnership, went live. Now, more than half the doctors in Delaware receive information through the exchange and about 85 percent of lab transactions flow through the system. A recent survey found 84 percent of the participants in the network believe this flow of information will improve patient care, Roy said. The development of health information exchanges is critical to health care reform, said Jennifer Covich, interim CEO of the eHealth Initiative, an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote health care information technology. “We’re creating the infrastructure for the future of health
by Mary Branham
care information,” she said. “We want (health information) to be connected the same way banks are connected.” That will take time. EHealth Initiative found 193 active exchanges spotted across the country in a 2009 survey. Those exchanges in operation are concentrated in the East and West. The Midwest is home to the fewest number of operational initiatives, according to the survey. The technology is available, but Covich said the roadblocks have been political, security and privacy issues, and funding. “Eighty percent of the care in this country is delivered by physicians in small practices so you’ve got to get all those groups wired,” she said.
Funding Exchanges
That’s where stimulus money—and state governments—can help, she said. The Recovery Act set aside $19 billion for the development of health information technology across the country. It also includes Medicare and Medicaid incentives to eligible providers, such as physicians and hospitals, to increase the adoption of electronic health records. But Covich said states must invest wisely. “We need to be thinking forward about how to sustain these systems in the long-term,” she said. “The federal government can put in a big chunk of money right now but the states and
