You're thinking, Obamacare, like I was.
Frustrated medical professionals across the country said that the expensive systems — the technology used by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, part of a $200 million investment — are often unwieldy and problematic.
Could just be Federal meddling, you know.
Researchers and experts in the health care IT field — known as informatics — say the Dallas Ebola case underscores concerns of pressing public interest: lax regulation of the systems and secrecy from hospitals and computer vendors.
So we need more Givermint?
Many health IT experts want greater transparency about failures, especially given that hospitals such as Presbyterian have benefited from massive infusions of federal dollars to move from paper records to digital systems.
Free money, or more accurately, somebody else's money!
In 2004, President George W. Bush set a target for making electronic health records available for most Americans within a decade. Policymakers saw the push as a way to improve care by enhancing communication among caregivers and streamlining billing processes.
I tried to prepare you for the Bush Blame Game.
The Obama administration and Congress created financial incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, pumping billions into electronic health record systems.And you wondered if any of that stimulus money did any good!
To get stimulus money, Texas Health and other medical providers had to meet certain requirements. These included things such as sharing test results needed for diagnoses, communicating with patients and measuring quality of care.
Since 2011, the federal government has paid out $25 billion to care providers nationwide for electronic record systems, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
We probably would have achieved e-records without the boodle, just not so quickly. And erratically.
Meanwhile,
Electronic records offer great potential to improve patient care, the authors acknowledged. But they cautioned that “poor user-interface design, poor workflow and complex data interfaces are threats to patient safety.”
Sounds like O'care.
The institute urged Congress to create standards for safe design of medical record systems. It recommended that the federal government investigate deaths and other IT-related harm. It called for a public reporting system on patient-related harm.Obamacare didn't include electronic records? More federal involvement, More free money. More studies. More boodle. More regulation. More Federal workers. Think about the Post Office.
In a 2012 report dubbed “Deep Dive,” the ECRI Institute noted that of 260 reports to the Food and Drug Administration over a recent two-year period detailing IT-related “medical device malfunctions,” 44 involved injuries and six involved deaths.
Six deaths? What about lightening strikes? Aren't they more deadly?
Conclusion:
"What everyone needs to understand is that we’re proofing these systems, whether it’s a technological misfire or a clinical misfire, unfortunately, in real time, on real people.”
Thanks to the Federal push with your tax dollars at work.