Health IT

With health care having found its place in the budget, the reform discussion is shifting gears from a focus on broad principles to specific proposals. When it comes to financing health reform, President Obama and other lawmakers have made it clear that every option is on the table.

We've finally had time to go through our 12 pages of notes from last week's fascinating discussion of the Wireless Future of Health IT, co-hosted by New America and CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Last week, we summarized the event's key takeways. Later, we'll post on the some of the real-world examples of how health IT coupled with pervasive broadband access can revolutionize the way we treat diseases and manage chronic conditions. But first, we'd like to give you some of the highlights from Intel chairman Craig Barrett's speech.

Entertaining and insightful, Barrett had much to say on health IT and health care in general. Barrett runs a company that provides health care coverage to over 50,000 workers. He also runs a small ranch in Montana. All of the workers at the ranch have health coverage. So do all of the ranch's 45 horses—but only the equines have complete, electronic medical records. While only a few of us would prefer to be treated by a veterinarian, the lack of connectivity in human health care is a troubling issue and one which Barrett argued had much to do with the way we pay for and organize services in our current medical system.

With the President's promise to pledge $19 billion to health information technology, both doctors and hospitals are looking ahead with hope, and some wariness, at the adoption of HIT on their home turf.

Part of Obama's strategy in successfully implementing health IT has been to appoint Dr. David Blumenthal, a Harvard Medical School practicing physician, professor, and policy director for Massachusetts General Hospital, as "National Coordinator for Health Information Technology." Dr. Blumenthal's experience and expertise in so many different areas of health care has made him a trusted facilitator of the implementation of health information technology. In a series of essays about Health Information Technology, Dr. Blumenthal writes that there is a growing consensus that "wiring the health care system is fundamental to enhancing quality and containing cost—and thus improving overall system efficiency," and the government should play a role in helping HIT attain its full potential.

In the past, for 99 cents a minute, a cell phone could tell us the future in a thick Jamaican accent. In the future, it may be able to help you manage your diabetes, help doctors share information, and potentially help our country save billions of dollars while delivering higher quality health care.

The $19 billion in funding for health IT has many hoping the future is now, but whether that future is a health care system transformed by the power of information technology remains to be seen. As the AP writes:

Here's the best-case scenario for the government's plans to spend $19 billion on computerized medical records: seamless communication among doctors and patients, and far fewer mistakes.

And the worst-case: $19 billion goes down the drain.

We'd like to encourage our readers to attend our event this Monday, March 23, The Wireless Future of Health IT. The event will be hosted by Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, a strong believer in the benefits of using technology to deliver high quality care anywhere and everywhere.

We get all fired up about investing in health care reform — like the $19 billion + in stimulus funds we're pouring into Health Information Technology. Apparently, we are not the only ones.

Want to track the health care money in the stimulus package? Have we got a web site for you.

The Department of Health and Human Services has created a special office to distribute the $137 billion in Recovery Act funds under HHS purview. The Office of Recovery Act Coordination will be lead by Dennis Williams, formerly of HRSA. Details of spending, grants etc will be at www.hhs.gov/recovery.

It's not just the blogosphere that's agog about some of the pretty astonishing things being said about comparative effectiveness.

Congress is set to pass a $787 billion economic stimulus package—with more than a $130 billion in health-related funding.

Two new reports provide further insight into Health IT's potential as both economic stimulus and a building block for broader health reform.

In a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the CBO estimates that the Health IT provisions of House's economic stimulus package would reduce healthcare spending by 0.3 percent from 2011 to 2019. CBO predicts the savings would come from: "diminishing the number of inappropriate tests and procedures, reducing paperwork and administrative overhead, and decreasing the number of adverse events resulting from medical errors."

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund published in the Archives of Internal Medicine provides even more specific evidence of potential savings by comparing the use of health IT in a diverse group of urban hospitals in Texas. The report's authors conclude that: "Hospitals with automated notes and records, test results, order entry, and clinical decision support experience fewer complications, lower mortality rates, and lower costs." For a breakdown of the savings, check out this helpful Commonwealth Fund chart below: