[Med-privacy] EMRs
pmarshall
pwm@comcast.net
Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:32:00 -0700
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<div class="title">HHS Removes Obstacles to Paperless Health
System</div>
<div class="text12">
<p>By Alicia Ault</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Jul 01 - The federal government on
Tuesday announced several steps that should hasten the development of
fully electronic medical records and communications among health
providers, insurers, and patients.</p>
<p>One of the biggest hurdles has been the lack of a common
language. Now, the government has struck an agreement to license a
standardized medical terminology system that will let all these various
parties communicate, using uniform standards and terms. The program
will be made available free of charge throughout the United States.</p>
<p>"Banks and other financial institutions all across the country
can talk to each other electronically, which has streamlined customer
transactions and reduced errors," said Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, speaking to the HHS-sponsored
National Health Information Infrastructure conference. "We want to do
the same thing for the American health care system."</p>
<p>Secretary Thompson expressed dismay that the health care
sector continues to lag behind others in using information technology
to increase efficiency and decrease errors. "I really can't understand
why grocery stores are more technologically advanced than hospitals,"
he said.</p>
<p>Therefore, he is creating a new HHS Council on Application of
Health Care Information Technology to help speed up adoption of IT and
the move towards a paperless health care system. Its first charge will
be to try to convince the private sector to follow the government's
lead and adopt the classification system, called SNOMED (Systematized
Nomenclature of Medicine) Clinical Terms.</p>
<p>By using the program, physicians will be able to share
treatment recommendations, lab results, and medical histories with each
other and with hospitals, even if they don't work for the same health
care system. Currently, a mishmash of programs -- many of which are
incompatible -- are used by various hospitals, doctors, and insurers.</p>
<p>SNOMED was developed by the College of American Pathologists.
It contains more than 340,000 terms for medical conditions and
concepts. The National Library of Medicine has entered a 5-year, $32.5
million contract with the College for a permanent license for the
vocabulary.</p>
<p>The Department of Defense and the Veterans Affairs health
systems will adopt SNOMED as soon as possible. However, the software
won't be fully available until early next year, said Betsy Humphreys of
the National Library of Medicine. The NLM will be providing the
license agreements and access to the program.</p>
<p>HHS has also asked the Institute of Medicine to develop a
prototype electronic medical record. Once that model is ready, perhaps
by 2004, the government will share that free-of-charge, as well,
Secretary Thompson said.</p>
<p>Finally, the Secretary said he will ask Congress to let HHS
establish a trust fund using money recovered from fraud and abuse cases.
Health providers who need help purchasing hardware or other equipment
could tap into the fund.</p>
<p>"I look forward to a day where our 21st century care is
supported by 21st century systems," Secretary Thompson said.</p>
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