Adopting Electronic Health Records (EHR): It’s time

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt has published an appeal to the healthcare providers in the United States, urging them to adopt electronic health records.

This seemed more than appropriate for our first post.

In his appeal, Leavitt encourages physicians to bring their tools inline with their medical expertise:

Our medical professionals are practicing 21st-century medicine with 19th-century tools. They’re using paper charts that aren’t always where they need to be, with handwritten notes that read like a cipher. They can’t easily compare notes from clinical practice to see what works. As a result, Americans can’t tell how good their care is or how much it costs. They also suffer needlessly from medical errors that could be avoided.

Part of the effort to improve, he maintains, is adopting Electronic Health Records (EHR):

Physicians also benefit from the use of electronic health records (EHRs), which they can access anywhere from handheld computers. EHRs save physicians from having to read through pages and pages of handwritten notes to find the little details that can make a big difference in treatment. They alert physicians immediately to dangerous drug interactions and allergies. They enable prescriptions to be sent electronically directly from the handheld device to the pharmacy. They also allow researchers to track treatment outcomes so that they can gauge the quality of care and learn more quickly from clinical practice what works best.

For more, read Leavitt’s appeal, entitled “Improve health care by speeding switch to electronic records.”