Originally Published MX July/August 2004
BUSINESS NEWS
Secretary Thompson Calls for National Healthcare IT System"We need to get it done, and we need to get it done now."
That was the sense of urgency expressed by Tommy Thompson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in his call for a national health information infrastructure that would improve the safety, responsiveness, and efficiency of the U.S. healthcare system while reducing costs.
Thompson made his remarks at the HHS-sponsored Health Information Technology Summit held in early May in Washington, DC. The summit was a follow-up to President Bush's April announcement of a national health information technology plan, which includes as its centerpiece the adoption of electronic medical records within 10 years.
Acknowledging the "remarkable advances" of 21st-century healthcare, Thompson lamented the fact that the system is "held together with 19th-century paperwork." He called the current situation "inexcusable," and added, "for healthcare IT, the 21st century starts today."
 |
| Brailer |
Thompson said that the national health information technology plan needs "someone who can help jump-start our efforts to speeding the nation's progress in implementing these kinds of solutions." To fill that role, Thompson announced the appointment of David J. Brailer, MD, PhD, to the new position of national health information technology coordinator.
Brailer is currently a senior fellow at the Health Technology Center in San Francisco. He was previously chairman and CEO of Care Science Inc. (Philadelphia), an Internet-based healthcare IT company. He is also on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and its health system. He holds doctoral degrees in medicine and economics from the University of Pennsylvania and received his MD from West Virginia University.
Brailer's appointment was universally hailed by organizations in the vanguard of healthcare information technology, including the American Medical Informatics Association (Bethesda, MD), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (Chicago), the Markle Foundation's Connecting for Health (New York City), the e-Health Initiative (Washington, DC), and the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Chicago).
Based on a conservative estimate, Thompson said, a national healthcare information system "could save our economy $140 billion a year—about 10% of our total healthcare spending."
To advance the goal of a national healthcare technology infrastructure, Thompson pledged the full support of federal government agencies—including that of medical facilities operated by the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration. Thompson said that President Bush's budget, now before Congress, includes $50 million in grants specifically earmarked for healthcare IT.
In a prepared statement, Pamela Bailey, president of AdvaMed (Washington, DC), applauded Thompson and the administration "for providing the leadership needed to harness health information technology to make healthcare and our healthcare system, safer, more efficient, and productive." She urged the administration to accelerate progress toward a healthcare system that "maximizes the power of digital technology" by providing tax credits, loans, and grants in support of healthcare IT; and by awarding CMS contracts to organizations that foster and embrace the use of healthcare IT.
Noting that AdvaMed members make technologies for the capture, analysis, management, and monitoring of patient data, Bailey called on CMS to reimburse organizations "at levels sufficient to cover the cost of cutting-edge monitoring technologies and the staff necessary to employ them."
The HHS commitment to adopting electronic medical records may open the door to new markets for medical equipment manufacturers—if they are willing to take advantage of the opportunity. Medtech manufacturers have historically tended to develop and market closed systems dependent on proprietary technologies, thereby making it difficult for their customers to adopt competitors' equipment. But the market future for such proprietary solutions—even advanced, feature-rich, hospitalwide medical IT systems—could be very limited.
For a healthcare market that seems certain to become increasingly dependent on information technologies, adoption of an open-systems approach could prove to be the best way to ensure a company's products remain viable.
Copyright ©2004 MX
