Bush Plan for Electronic Record System Gains Momentum

In Baltimore last year, President Bush noted that despite the Herculean task he'd asked health care practitioners and institutions to undertake, there was already a successful model for implementing change: “Information Technology, hasn't shown up in health care yet. But it has in one place, in one department … and that's the Veterans Department.” Maryland Veteran's Administration Medical System Director Dennis Smith, who attended the meeting at the Baltimore VA Center, described how the VA's system was put into place. “We started with physician-order entry. And we had packages … a lab package. So we brought lab on board, where the physicians would order their lab work, and that would be automated. And then we went to various other systems. So it was gradual.”

More Presidential Support

During a stop at the Cleveland Clinic on Jan. 27, Bush reiterated his support for the introduction of electronic medical records systems nationwide and pledged renewed financial support for those programs — as much as $100 million this year and $125 million in FY 2006. The Cleveland Clinic is helping the government develop standards for creating electronic medical records.

When and if such systems are successfully put in place, they are likely to help save lives by allowing health care providers instantly to know what health problems a patient has had, how the patient was treated, and what medications the patient is taking.

In April 2004, President Bush called for development of a nationwide electronic health records system that would include most Americans' health data within 10 years. He took some steps then to get the ball rolling, but funding for the program was cut in November as part of a plan to balance the federal budget. However, in the first months of 2005, Bush renewed his push for reforms, which he asserts will cut health care costs and reduce medical errors.

Bush created the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and in May 2004, David J. Brailer, MD, PhD, was appointed to the new position. In July 2004, then Health and Human Service Secretary Tommy Thompson launched the “Decade of Health Information Technology” with his agency's outline of a 10-year plan to transform health care with a new health information infrastructure, including electronic health records and a new network to link health records nationwide. The plan, prepared by Dr. Brailer, identified potential methods for encouraging the health care sector to adopt electronic records systems, because, according to the report, only 13% of hospitals reporting had any such system in 2002 and only 14% to 24% of physicians in practices did. These included regional grants to stimulate electronic record and community information exchange systems, low interest rate loans to set up such systems and Medicare reimbursement.

A Successful Model

In Baltimore last year, President Bush noted that despite the Herculean task he'd asked health care practitioners and institutions to undertake, there was already a successful model for implementing change: “Information Technology, hasn't shown up in health care yet. But it has in one place, in one department … and that's the Veterans Department.” Maryland Veteran's Administration Medical System Director Dennis Smith, who attended the meeting at the Baltimore VA Center, described how the VA's system was put into place. “We started with physician-order entry. And we had packages … a lab package. So we brought lab on board, where the physicians would order their lab work, and that would be automated. And then we went to various other systems. So it was gradual.”

More Presidential Support

During a stop at the Cleveland Clinic on Jan. 27, Bush reiterated his support for the introduction of electronic medical records systems nationwide and pledged renewed financial support for those programs — as much as $100 million this year and $125 million in FY 2006. The Cleveland Clinic is helping the government develop standards for creating electronic medical records.

When and if such systems are successfully put in place, they are likely to help save lives by allowing health care providers instantly to know what health problems a patient has had, how the patient was treated, and what medications the patient is taking.