Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Digital Records Pose Time, Security Challenges
NPR: Electronic Medical Records, Built For Efficiency, Often Backfire
Electronic medical records were supposed to usher in the future of medicine. Prescriptions would be beamed to the pharmacy. A doctor could call up patients' medical histories anywhere, anytime. Nurses and doctors could easily find patients' old lab results or last X-rays to see what how they're doing. The computer system could warn doctors about dangerous drug combinations before it was too late. Many of those things are an everyday reality in doctors' offices and hospitals across the country. But a survey of more than 400 internists with experience using electronic medical records, or EMRs, documents what doctors have complained about for years: computerized records chew up a lot of time. (Hensley, 11/7)
The Wall Street Journal: Health Care Industry Starts To Pay Attention To Cyber Risks
The health-care industry is grappling with how to protect personal health information from increasing cyber threats. In addition to meeting security and privacy regulations, companies can do more to prevent breaches by assessing and prioritizing cybersecurity risks, said Jim Routh, chief information security officer at health insurer Aetna Inc. The message has already caught on at some health-care companies, who are starting to look for technology executives with risk experience. (King, 11/7)
KCUR: HHS Official: Let's Use Technology To Change The Way We Talk About Health
Many health experts say that, to save money and improve care, the United States needs to get past paper records and frequent visits to the doctor. And to encourage the switch to standardized electronic records, the federal government has begun offering incentives to providers. But the push to innovate has been met with some resistance. Dr. Jacob Reider is deputy national coordinator of health information technology for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At this week’s annual Cerner conference, he told Heartland Health Monitor’s Alex Smith that his work is about more than swapping the manila envelope for cloud storage. (Smith, 11/7)
