Common Ground
The ruckus surrounding health care reform has been well-documented,
here and elsewhere. If you're looking for careful, considered discourse on the U.S. health care system and how to fix it, the seemingly endless stream of "town hall-style" forums and political discussions dedicated to the subject won't have much to offer you. Politicians and concerned citizens alike continue to squabble over what a new health policy should or shouldn't include, and the volume keeps getting ratcheted up.
The latest public spectacle was President Obama's Sept. 9 speech in front of Congress, during which Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) -- perhaps channeling a disillusioned Dylan fan -- actually shouted "You lie!" as Obama claimed his proposed health care plan would not offer free care to illegal immigrants.
Yes, addressing the broader health care policy issue may take a while. But at this stage, there is at least one spot on the front lines of reform where policy makers seem to stand together: the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs).
Leaders from both sides of the political aisle, including Obama himself, have recognized the important role of health information technology in improving the delivery of health care in the U.S. Indeed, billions of dollars were included in the ARRA package to encourage EHR implementation.
Many large medical groups have already installed EHRs, but, generally speaking, smaller physicians' practices have been slower to embrace digital health records.
But that may be changing, as a handful of technology titans are leading a push to get smaller offices on board with EHRs.
According to a recent New York Times article, Dell has announced a plan to partner with hospital groups around the country to offer electronic health records -- hardware, software, consulting services and financing -- to their affiliated physicians. The personal computer giant "sees the big opportunity as being in offices with 10 doctors or fewer, where three-fourths of the nation's physicians practice medicine," according to the Times article.
Encouraged by ARRA, some other big-name companies have plans to target the same market. IBM, which doesn't currently offer EHR software, appears to be planning a move as well. While not divulging exactly what it has in store, IBM told the Times it intends to work with partners to provide a cloud-computing based service aimed at small practices.
Verizon, which started a health care unit earlier this year, plans to "work with many health technology partners to offer EHRs over the Internet in several months," a spokesman told the paper.
Early next year, GE will offer a data-center hosted version of its EHRs, delivered over the Internet, and "has recently done a lot of prototype work on how to make the shift to digital records easier and less costly for small practices," the Times reported.
For many small doctors' offices, cost and degree of difficulty have been the biggest stumbling blocks in adopting EHRs. We'll see how successful IBM, GE, Verizon and others ultimately are in the small-practice market, but making EHR adoption less painful for the little guy seems like a good idea. Maybe both sides of the heated health care debate could even agree on that much.