Meaningful Use Gets Support from Private Sector
Health IT is a team effort. The whole point is to increase communication and coordination among the different players in the health care system. You just can’t go it alone in this field.
The good news is that, when you have a solid plan and a worthy objective, lots of talented people want to join the team and contribute to the effort.
The HITECH Act got the ball rolling. But government can only take this so far by itself. To provide real momentum for the widespread adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records, the private sector has to be there to push it along.
Now that the Department of Health and Human Services has announced final rules for meaningful use of electronic health records, we have a framework that will enable action by players across the board—in both the private and public sectors.
Some of those players announced their action plans yesterday—putting their weight behind the meaningful use goals and pledging to work together.
At a recent meeting on Advancing EHR Adoption and Meaningful Use sponsored by Health Affairs and Brandeis University’s Health Industry Forum at the National Press Club, payers, providers, and certification and licensing boards came together to announce early plans for supporting rapid adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records.
- Payers (Aetna, Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United Health Group, and Wellpoint) announced plans for incentive programs that will work in parallel with the CMS program and utilize the meaningful use objectives.
- Leading provider groups (the Christiana Care Health System, Partners HealthCare, and ThedaCare) announced training and requirements for clinicians.
- And, perhaps most significantly, certification and licensure bodies (the Federation of State Medical Boards and the American Board of Medical Specialties) announced steps for assisting and encouraging physicians in the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records, with the ultimate goal that their use will become an element of professional certification.
With the meaningful use goals as their framework, these representatives of the private sector are formulating a strategy for the transformation of health care in our country through the use of health IT. These are indeed significant and encouraging first steps, occurring a mere three weeks after announcement of the final phase 1 meaningful use rules. We applaud their efforts and we look forward to more payers, providers, and others in both the public and private sectors joining the team to move together towards our common goal.
– Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
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Getting the private sectors involved with the IT development in health care is a great step to take. While business and health care should stay separate from each other… this is a really good move, regarding efficiency. Allowing the health sector to focus on what it’s doing while the private sectors install and develop the IT systems make things move at a very rapid pace… which is always good when it comes to health care.
If the American government had a system like Canada’s, would the government still be able to “only take it so far by itself”? Or would it be more involved? A possible hybrid to allow the government to hire out private sector while still remaining the “overseer” would be ideal. It would also solve a problem that Canada’s health care system has… speed.
I have friends who live in Canada and their health system is not faster at all… People often stays for days in emergency room without being able to see a doctor… Public health system has its flaws too!
In Australia the health departments control all records and this has come about through the privacy act. We know secure external organisations can control and secure documentation, but the mentality here to keep records in house creates a lot of problems for us. The first is often the areas are small and cramped to work in, we rely on temporary staff and the workload is overwhelming. The day we can outsource our records will be a far better day and a great push in the right direction.
I like the idea of the government hiring out private sectors while still guiding the overall framework of health care. If the government would do just enough to help ensure that everyone has access to affordable health care but still let let the private sectors make most of their own decisions I think this would be a fair compromise.