What Are the Obstacles to Digital Health Records?
What’s standing in the way of the wider spread of health IT?
Plenty of things, according to a new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center. The report says boosting use of electronic medical records and other health IT “enjoys bipartisan support.” It’s also being pushed by billions of dollars in government incentives.
The assumption is that health IT can help improve health outcomes, improve the experience of care and save money. But there are gaps and barriers to its effective use, the report says.
Among them: a lack of health information exchange. In other words, hospitals and doctors can’t easily swap patient records and other data electronically. An easier exchange of records and test results is expected to lower costs by reducing duplication of services.
Patients aren’t yet widely using electronic tools to manage their care or coordinate with a physician or other health-care provider, the report says. For example, surveys show that only 7% to 11% of Americans currently use some form of online personal health record.
Consumers are also worried about privacy and security, the report says, recommending that “all entities that access, use and disclose consumers’ personal health information should be required to comply with privacy and security requirements that are at […]
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