HHS Chief On Health IT Stimulus Proposal
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt believes interoperability has to be a component of any health information technology language that is considered for inclusion in a forthcoming economic stimulus package. "Before lawmakers act, they need to think: If stimulus money supports a proliferation of systems that can't exchange information, we will only be replacing paper-based silos of medical information with more expensive, computer-based silos that are barely more useful," he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday.
"Health IT systems produce value when they are interoperable. When they're not, doctors who invest in electronic health records cannot share information with each other or add lab results to your file or send electronic prescriptions to your pharmacist. They would have to use handwritten prescriptions and paper files in addition to their electronic files," Leavitt wrote. "That's not the way 21st-century health care should work." He added that system standards are needed and that those standards should be vendor-neutral.
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