The next president should ensure that all health care providers use electronic health records and participate in health information exchange networks, a well-regarded foundation is recommending.
In a report outlining how a new president should move to fix the nation’s broken health system, the Commonwealth Fund calls for those who pay for health care – Medicare, Medicaid, private insurers and others – to assist with financing the adoption of health information technology systems.
However, it notes that if the payment system is changed to reward doctors for good patient outcomes, payer financing might not be necessary to get doctors to adopt EHR systems.
"Within five years, all providers should be required to use an electronic health record and to participate in a health information exchange network that links information across clinical settings," the report states.
The report also recommends that the new administration consider creating a national body "possibly similar to the Federal Reserve Board" to lead and coordinate public and private sector health care reforms. The new body could report to Congress on health system performance and additional measures needed to improve performance.
In a press conference, Dr. James Mongan, who chairs the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System, said “further work needs to be done on the exact mechanisms by which we get” to the point where virtually all doctors are using EHRs.
Fund President Karen Davis said a combination of incentives and regulatory requirements would be needed.
However, before the Commonwealth Fund report was made public, the director of the Congressional Budget Office was downplaying the value of EHRs. In a meeting with reporters, CBO chief Peter Orszag said politicians are probably overstating how much savings EHRs would reap for the health care system, the Reuter news service said.
Orszag called for more attention to best practices in treating patients and avoiding treatments whose effectiveness is not proven. The Commonwealth Fund report makes similar arguments about the need for more reliance on the results of research about what works best.
“Moving forward on IT is incredibly important,” said Mongan, the president and chief executive officer of Partners HealthCare in Boston.
Government Health IT will present Liesa Jo Jenkins, executive director of CareSpark, in an eSeminar at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, where she will share her experiences and insight into building a health information exchange that enhances community health, rewards regional collaboration and drives economic progress.
