Kennedy moves to digitize medical records

On Wednesday Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Representative Tim Murphy (R-Pa) held a press conference to discuss the Health IT portions of the economic stimulus package. Health IT refers to the maintenance of Medical records electronically and the sharing of them over the internet in a uniform and connected way, as opposed to conventional paper methods of filing. Representative Kennedy said that Healthcare in America is going to undergo an “enormous transformation”, and that everyone has a stake in Health IT. He continued that Health IT would deliver efficiency to the system and would make it more user friendly. Representative Murphy said that the legislation would eliminate $162 billion in waste in current programs and $150 billion worth of lost work time. Stephen Lieber, President and CEO of of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), said that Health IT would be necessary to meet President Obama’s call to computerize health records in 5 years, and that Health IT is both good stimulus and good policy. Critics of the legislation cite privacy as a main concern, but Representative Murphy stated that HIPAA rules would apply to the documents contained in the system, which would protect the privacy of patients.

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

Health care transforms, Gingrich gives thoughts

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, participated in the Center for Health Transformation's Healthcare that Works presentation at the Washington Press Club.
A panel of speakers presented data on the need for robust and universal computerized medicine for safety and cost savings. Gingrich said government could save much more by promoting private sector best practices than by just funding benefits.
Merrill Mathews, PhD, said centralized accounting could combat fraud totaling billions of dollars annually. He said the private sector has much better control of this, and should be the model.
Brandon Savage, MD, of GE Healthcare, said electronic patient records Could be modeled on ATM software which already provides fast access no matter where the user is, while remaining secure. Gingrich added that such records could monitor medical errors, medicine conflicts, allergies, etc.

According to Donald Doak, EBSCO Publishing, 40 thousand to 90 thousand lives a year might be saved . He also said Evidence based (objective, statistically supported best practices) medicines is derived from, and distributed by, networked databases.
Gingrich said that he had tried to encourage electronic medical information reforms under Bush for six years; now they are part of Obama's package.
In a broader concluding statement, Gingrich also proposed tripling NSF funding, based on a "generational investment strategy": the payoff is huge, but delayed. "My biggest mistake as Speaker was not doing that."
Dr. Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation, endorsed Gingrich's estimate of needed funding.

The entire presentation will be available as a video at www.healthtransformation.net

Top goals debated for the first 100 days of the Obama Administration

At a discussion on "After the Election: The New Administration and the Democracy Party in a Transformed Political World," contributing editor for the New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai, said he didn't think Obama won by a landslide on election night. Bai compared Obama to Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 when Clinton won more electoral votes than Obama did in this election.

According to Bai, universal health care must be the number one priority on Obama's to-do list as President. Bai further stated that "health care is a critical thing for Obama to accomplish," "...businesses want it, the public want it..."

President and co-founder of the non-partisan think tank Third Way, Jonathan Cowan, believes the opposite; that energy, not health care, must be Obama's first priority. According to Cowan, Obama will "reach across the aisle to get bipartisanship".

When comparing Obama to the 2004 democratic candidate, John Kerry, Cowan said Obama performed much better among the identified liberal voters. Obama also received more votes among moderates and conservatives. Cowan highlighted Obama's economic strategy, saying his middle-class ideas and solutions outranked his opponents.

Cowan also said that he believes Obama will protect women’s rights to have an abortion, but still reduce the number of abortions across the nation.

McCain has a “radical” healthcare plan

ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts spoke today about health care on the campaign trail at a convention on clinical chemistry among healthcare professionals. Roberts said the American people are going to see a “robust” debate on health care for the presidential campaigns, and that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has a more “radical” healthcare plan then Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Roberts said that John McCain’s plan to get away from employer based healthcare plans and put families on individual plans is “radical.” While this plan frees up tax money and may create an open market for lower insurance rates, a Democratically held Congress will not approve it and public opinion is that individually based health care will be much harder financially, she said.

However, Obama’s patchwork healthcare plan is much more plausible, Roberts said. Smaller changes will work better and get through Congress faster then a large overall change, and universal healthcare won’t happen anytime soon.

Voters want something done about healthcare, but they aren’t sure exactly what they want, Roberts said. There is a very significant number of people who make less then $30,000 a year who can barely make their medical insurance payments, if they speak up and demand change then healthcare will become an important part of the campaigns.

Uniting the United States

Between cheers of support, former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) discussed ways to end poverty in the United States at the Campus Progress of the Center for American Progress Convention in Washington. Edwards urged college students in attendance to lead the fight against “America’s great moral shame,” 37 million Americans living in poverty, and to fight against President Bush’s “war on work.”

Edwards cited past efforts by Presidents F. Roosevelt and Johnson that helped to alleviate poverty, adding that the United States has failed to focus on poverty as a major issue for 40 years. He recommended fixing economic shortfalls by raising the minimum wage, increasing tax breaks, and restoring child tax credits to all taxpayers. Edwards said Americans should no longer tolerate hungry children, inadequate public education, lack of healthcare availability, and veteran suicide rates.

To involve students more in the fight against poverty, Edwards encouraged convention goers to become involved in Half in Ten, Edwards’s campaign dedicated to reducing poverty levels by half in ten years. Edwards told students not to sit on the sidelines and become active in helping those most in need.

Edwards also told students that youth movements have historically brought social change and encouraged youth to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and unite the country for change. He said the “two Americas” divide is growing and that the indifferences associated with it are turning into the status quo.