A component of the health care overhaul discussion includes a concerted effort on the part of the federal government to encourage the adoption of electronic health records and the exchange of health care information among providers, payers and throughout the health care field.
“Essentially, health information technology involves having those entities become interoperable thereby allowing for the exchange of health information regarding patients, the exchange of population health information that may be occurring in a particular area and allowing the entities involved to more effectively care for patients,” says Jeff Porter, co-chair of the Health Care Technology Practice at Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter.
A lot of people liken health information technology to the automation of banking that occurred with the introduction of the ATM.
Smart Business learned more from Porter about the role of health information technology in health care reform and the challenges involved in its adoption and active use.
Why should a company implement health care information technology?
To make health information more portable and accessible. For example, the government, through Medicare and Medicaid, provides grants to give reimbursements to physicians to adopt electronic health or medical records that would be maintained for patients within a physician’s office. Those physicians are required to use those records meaningfully. A meaningful use standard is currently being developed at the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
There are many vendors out there right now who are trying to encourage consumers to, either through an insurance provider or on their own, utilize a personal health record. It involves recording information about their health conditions, including downloading information from devices — whether it be a glucometer or taking their blood pressure — as a way to engage the consumer and make them more responsible for their health.
Overarching everything else is the idea of health information exchange. The government is seeking to help states develop the ability to exchange health care information, not only within the state but also with the federal government. Take, for instance, what we’re seeing with H1N1. Getting information regarding the illness from a particular state to the federal authorities can help the government determine if they need more vaccines in a certain place, or find out if there’s a bigger outbreak in a particular area.