Despite Incentives, Doctors’ Offices Lag On Digital Records
The good news: Colorado is working to help kids stay current with their immunizations and has a computerized where any provider who gives a child a vaccine can report that information.
The bad news: The states computer system is not compatible with most of the computer systems doctors use, so many practices dont update the central database because its just too much extra work, according to , a researcher at the University of Colorado. That means doctors and researchers, who try to keep childhood immunizations on track, cant rely on the database to make sure a vaccine isnt missed or given twice.
This is just one small example of the digital disconnect thats holding health care back, says , a policy analyst with the RAND Corporation. He says the ability for doctors to easily share information is the exception in America, not the rule.
Kellermann in this months Health Affairs, reflecting on a that said information technology could save America $81 billion a year by making health care more efficient. He found actual savings scant in 2012 and learned that many doctors complain electronic records make them less efficient.
The result is that the health care industry isnt benefiting from the computer networks that have transformed industries such as manufacturing, retail and banking.
Kellerman points out that bank customers can go to any ATM in the country — and in many cases in other countries to withdraw money or transfer funds among accounts. You cant do that with health information technology today, he says.
Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the , rejects the comparison. People talk about the ATM, he says, but thats seven data elements, and they charge you two-buck-fifty for shipping those seven data fields over. Were talking thousands of data fields around things that are life and death.
Mostasharis office is charged with leading American medicines digital transformation, and it is responsible for distributing $27 billion in federal stimulus funds to providers who demonstrate they are meaningfully using health IT systems. According to a , while 72 percent of office-based physicians are using some sort of electronic system in their practice, only 40 percent of practices meet the definition of a basic system.
Mostasharis office meets constantly with software vendors - on average, one meeting every three and a half hours for the past three years, he says. Theyre trying to hammer out the basic industry standards necessary to make sharing health information as easy as bank records or other important information.
Mostashari says the number of doctors and hospitals using electronic records has doubled in the last two years. Despite the growing pains, he says the governments strategy is helping, though it will be another six years before the governments IT strategy starts showing significant savings.
Both he and Kellermann agree that patients would get better care, at lower cost, if health care systems could share patient records easily. But that wont happen until doctors and hospitals start getting paid for being IT-smart. Right now, duplicative testing also means duplicate payments. Kellerman is optimistic the Affordable Care Acts payment reforms can change that.
As we shift American health care and start paying for the best quality care and the best outcomes, rather than who does the most stuff, who orders the most tests or who does the most operations, then I think youll see IT becoming a tool for efficiency and high performance, Kellermann says.
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes ,泭 and Kaiser Health News.
