U.S. moves to spur digital health record network
The U.S. government is taking steps to help spawn a nationwide network of electronic medical records that are easily accessible but protect patient privacy, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Monday.
A new advisory panel will make recommendations aimed at prodding the private sector to establish standards so medical records can be shared throughout the health-care system, Leavitt said.
"In order for health IT (information technology) to move forward, we have to have interoperable standards… creating a system where information is digital, privacy protected and interchangeable,” Leavitt said in an interview.
Doctors and hospitals have been slow to embrace digital technology, although advocates say using it to replace paper files could lower costs substantially and reduce medical errors.
The new panel, announced by Leavitt at a health IT meeting in New York, will have 17 government and private sector members, plus Leavitt as chairman. The group will give recommendations on how to make health records compatible among varying computer systems while keeping patient information secure. The panel will exist for at least two years and possibly as long as five years.
In addition, the government is asking for industry proposals for software standards and certification for an Internet-based system to exchange health information.
Government health programs such as Medicare will adopt the standards, helping to push private health-care providers and others to use the same systems, Leavitt said.
“Federal government agencies will be a full partner in developing these standards, and when they are developed we will adopt them and we will later ask those who do business with us to adopt them,” Leavitt said.
President George W. Bush has set a goal for most Americans to have electronic health records by 2014.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said Leavitt’s ideas are a good start but legislation is needed to “give real momentum to the movement to modernize American health care.”
“Bolder action is needed to relieve Americans from crushing health costs,” Kennedy said.
Several lawmakers are developing legislation to provide incentives for adopting electronic medical records to the doctors and hospitals that will bear the costs of upgrading their systems.
Leavitt said the technology also would be a boost to the Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to monitor drug side effects because reports from throughout the country could be gathered quickly for analysis.
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