Video/Podcast: Google Health and EMRs

I listened to a podcast of an interview with Mike Leavitt, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, which addressed improving health care in America. Leavitt said he wants health care to "achieve economic system status," meaning that consumers should pay for quality.

Leavitt also mentioned electronic medical records (EMRs), which he said could be even more secure than paper records because access to electronic records is tracked, whereas a paper file could be peeked at by any number of people. He also mentioned Ghealth, which Google is currently developing. Here is a YouTube video of a keynote speech delivered by Eric Schmidtt of Google which (although a little long) discusses what Google Health does. Essentially, patients can use it to consolidate their health records by retrieving EMRs from their providers. You can also read about it here.

Leavitt believes that HIPAA has it wrong and that patients should be the true owners of their health records. He mentioned Ghealth as an option for patients in the future. NPs working with EMRs, such as those working in retail health clinics, will be providers in the trenches dealing with this issue. Do you use an EMR? Has it improved your ability to provide care? Post your comments below!