Spending on EMRs

With the economy being what it is and the necessity to grow economic development throughout all industries of our country, what is the government doing to improve the health care industry? We have all heard of the stimulus package that was debated vigorously and finally passed not too long ago, so what effect will the stimulus and spending in general have on health technology? The Obama administration has set apart $17.4 billion of the stimulus package dedicated for the advancement and use of health technology with Electronic Medical Records as the head liner of the field. Additionally, over the next 5 years an additional $50 billion dollars will be spent on improving health technologies which will ultimately reduce health care costs and improve current practices, methods, and technologies while creating more patient friendly records. President Obama had this to say about it, "We're still using paper. We're still filing things in triplicate. Nurses can't read the prescriptions that doctors have written out. Why wouldn't we want to put that on an electronic medical record that will reduce error rates, reduce our long-term costs of health care and create jobs right now?" Many are uncomfortable that our government would keep spending so much money with how far in debt we are as is, however an investment placed in health care is not one we are likely to regret. For being the leader of all nations when it comes to technology, innovations, and wealth, our health care system is still very mediocre, with an increased emphasis on health technologies, we should see some drastic improvement over the next few years.

The Ins and Outs of Electronic Medical Records

President Obama recently decided on Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. With the change of administration one of the big questions from a public health perspective is what changes will take place within the health community? One that the author of this blog would like to see would be the wide spread effort of creating electronic medical records. One of the most expensive costs in our country today is that of health care, with premiums constantly on the rise and the economy constantly slipping, reducing the cost of health care is no longer just a good idea but a necessity. One of the most important ways to accomplish this feat could very well be by creating electronic medical records that would give physicians a data base where they can access patients information in a timely manner. Public health has historically been a field that is slow on the uptake of technology, by failing to maximize our potential to use the great technology available to us today we may be directly contributing to the outrageous cost of health care presently. With the stimulus plan set forth by the president, a good portion is being invested into health IT, the president had this to say about it, "(we will) invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives.". Having these electronic medical records will allow physicians and patients to compare treatment techniques, lower costs, and hopefully contribute to overall greater health in this country. Once we adapt to the idea of bad health prevention as opposed to repair, costs of health care will dramatically reduce and we will be well on our way to building a healthier country.