Report: Policymakers need to discuss obstacles of health IT systems
“Proponents of government support for expanding health IT point to tremendous benefits for the U.S. healthcare system. However, although many experts discuss the hoped-for benefits of health IT, formal evaluation and evidence regarding successful implementation is lacking,” according a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
The ultimate goal of health IT should be to improve quality, increase efficiency and add convenience--not just to create wired facilities, stated Derrick M. Herrick, PhD, senior fellow at the NCPA, and colleagues Linda Gorman, director of the HealthCare Policy Center at the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo., along with John C. Goodman, president and CEO at the NCPA.
"[M[issing from the debate [about health IT] is an honest disussion of experiences with actual health IT systems, and the obstacles and pitfalls of poorly designed systems," wrote the authors for NCPA, of Dallas.
“Two well-known estimates put potential savings at around $78 billion annually,” the authors noted. According to the NCPA report, the Congressional Budget Office found that no evidence yet exists to support claims of substantial saving from health IT: “[N]o aspect of health IT entails as much uncertainty as the magnitude of its potential benefits.”
The NCPA report authors remarked that health IT systems prevent common errors but also can introduce new ones, including:
“Without the appropriate incentives, these systems are likely to fail to live up to their potential,” the authors wrote. "Instead of fixed fees for a list of authorized tasks, [providers] should be allowed to innovate and profit if they deliver the same quality of care for less cost."
To read the NCPA's full report, click here.
The ultimate goal of health IT should be to improve quality, increase efficiency and add convenience--not just to create wired facilities, stated Derrick M. Herrick, PhD, senior fellow at the NCPA, and colleagues Linda Gorman, director of the HealthCare Policy Center at the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo., along with John C. Goodman, president and CEO at the NCPA.
"[M[issing from the debate [about health IT] is an honest disussion of experiences with actual health IT systems, and the obstacles and pitfalls of poorly designed systems," wrote the authors for NCPA, of Dallas.
“Two well-known estimates put potential savings at around $78 billion annually,” the authors noted. According to the NCPA report, the Congressional Budget Office found that no evidence yet exists to support claims of substantial saving from health IT: “[N]o aspect of health IT entails as much uncertainty as the magnitude of its potential benefits.”
The NCPA report authors remarked that health IT systems prevent common errors but also can introduce new ones, including:
- Over-reliance on the accuracy of EMRs;
- Physician order entry system errors; and
- Data overload.
“Without the appropriate incentives, these systems are likely to fail to live up to their potential,” the authors wrote. "Instead of fixed fees for a list of authorized tasks, [providers] should be allowed to innovate and profit if they deliver the same quality of care for less cost."
To read the NCPA's full report, click here.