The Urgency of Health IT
February 4th, 2009
Regina Hopper
Lawmakers and President Obama are agreed on the need to speed Health IT adoption. The long overdue shift from paper to electronic records is projected to increase efficiency, lower heath care costs, and even reduce medical mistakes and save lives. Now a recent study lends further credence to these claims.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine studied 41 Texas hospitals, comparing clinical information technologies with discharge records for 160,000 patients. Strikingly, institutions that used automated note taking had a 15 percent decrease in the chances that a patient would die hospitalized. Hospitals with highly rated decision-support systems also had 20 percent lower complication rates. And, in a time when health care costs are careening out of control, researchers found that electronic systems reduced costs by approximately $100 to $500 per patient.
While many hospitals and physicians recognize the value of health IT, the expense of implementing new systems and training medical professionals has prohibited widespread adoption. Given the fact that health IT is a legislative priority and $20 billion is allocated in the stimulus bill to accelerate its progress, more hospitals may soon become wired, enhancing patient care and health outcomes.
For an industry that has received little government aid, $20 billion is a much-needed infusion to help revolutionize record keeping. In fact, a 2006 study revealed that the United States only spent 43 cents per capita on health-care IT, compared with the $193 per capita spent in the United Kingdom. This is a vast differential that has clearly contributed to the digital divide in American health care. It’s time to close this gap, and broadband can help unleash the array of medical advances our patients need.
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