E-prescribing and other advances: Technology to improve your health

As the election approaches, recommendations about changes to the healthcare system abound. As we consider these proposals, it is critical to remember how much health innovation depends on dynamic partnerships between government and the private sector for success. One such vital issue is the advancement of healthcare information technology, which the Bush administration and many Democratic and Republican congressional members have made a priority.

The importance of expanding the adoption of health IT cannot be exaggerated. In the coming years, this technology has the potential to dramatically improve healthcare quality and safety, simplify its delivery, empower patients and significantly reduce the cost of care. To ensure that all Americans will benefit from these advances, the public sector has an important role to play in the development of and dialogue about this technology, one I spoke about last week at the meeting of the Congressional Women’s High Tech Coalition here in Washington.  

Healthcare IT is poised to transform the health system in this country, and technology has made rapid inroads in this field in just the last few years. A 2007 Harris poll found that more than half of adults surf the Internet for health information — up from just 29 percent in 2001.  This statistic speaks to consumers’ desire for accessible healthcare data, a desire both the public and private sectors are working hard to keep up with.

Just last month, the Senate Budget Committee passed a bipartisan amendment to create a reserve fund supporting widespread adoption of health information technology and accepted best practices in clinical settings.  Edward Langston, M.D., chairman of the American Medical Association (AMA) Board of Trustees, recently urged wider adoption of e-prescribing in an op-ed published in American Medical News, noting that “There are opportunities for physicians in all strata of practice models to consider engaging in e-prescribing as a first step to embracing [electronic medical records, or EMR]. The AMA is working diligently to provide tools for physicians to achieve e-prescribing and EMR capability.”

Many health insurers are working to answer this demand for information through support of e-prescribing, personal health records for members, and online tools that help consumers compare cost and quality data so that they can make informed decisions about aspects of their own care. Just last summer, Kettering Health Network, based in Dayton, Ohio, announced an expansive Web-based individual health record pilot program for Kettering employees, which is eventually slated for expansion to all patients.

Both the government and the private sector have a vested interest in the further development and implementation of health IT. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, the wider adoption of e-prescribing could eliminate as many as 2 million harmful drug events each year, events that could often be easily prevented through the availability of more complete patient information. Common errors like this greatly tax the healthcare resources in this country, both financial and material, contributing to the skyrocketing cost of care in this country.

We believe that information technologies like these, if properly implemented and widely adopted, could save money and improve quality and efficiency, a great benefit for us all. The RAND Corporation has estimated that annual savings from increased efficiency alone could reach $77 billion or more, and that health and safety benefits could more than double these savings.  

We are on the right track. In 2004, President Bush signed an executive order calling for the widespread adoption of electronic health records within the next 10 years. Secretary Mike Leavitt of the Department of Health and Human Services has done much to advance this initiative, moving to establish electronic medical record networks in 28 pilot sites across the country by offering significant financial incentives to doctors who adopt the technology.  Slowly, we are moving toward the interconnected networks that will deliver better care to all Americans.

However, we still have much ground to cover.  In order to do so, we should first utilize nationally recognized health IT technical standards where they exist, which would help prevent the creation of a burdensome patchwork of requirements around the nation. Establishing interoperability standards through a public-private collaborative process is essential to setting up a functional network. Last, we must harmonize federal and state security and privacy laws to assure that electronic health data is kept private and protected. We can achieve these goals if we work together to bring the full potential of health IT to bear upon the U.S. health system.

Braly is president and CEO of WellPoint Inc.