Investing in Health IT: US Senate Testimonies

If you haven’t seen the broadcast today from the Senate and are interested, as almost everyone is these days in electronic medical records and healthcare, take a look and listen to what some of the guests are saying to the committee. It will give you an idea of where we are and some of the questions posed by members of the Senate.

What was great to hear was that everyone represented here was pretty much in agreement all the way around. We have the technology to connect and bring the world of electronic medical records and personal health records together and just need the funds. As you can see from the list, there were representatives from both within government and outside. Jack Cochran from Kaiser Permanente made a great presentation and referred to not only their electronic medical records, but also the PHR, which is accessed by patients and had become very popular and used heavily since it was made available. Kaiser as you know works with the Microsoft HealthVault as well to make the records portable, let’s say in case one needed to see a physician out of network, those records could be shared at the patient’s discretion.

The HealthVault was mentioned by Peter Neupert from Microsoft and it was interesting to see inquiries on the committee asking “what is it”. It just somewhat caught me off guard here since this is a consumer product for all and I think our members of congress are also consumers, right? Personally I believe since this is a product for everyone and it is free, the best way to understand how they work and relate, is to go get one, right? They are for consumers anywhere so anyone can jump in to the digital age of an online personal health record and we need the funding to do so.

Personal Health Records – Who’s in the Know and Who has one?

Why Use a PHR – Because It is there and it stands to help decrease medical errors

Interoperability Advice for the New Administration – AHIC

Anyway, I try to keep all the readers here up to date on what is going on with both electronic medical records and personal health records and probably have more information on this blog about PHRs than any other on the internet.

Hmmmm, this blog might be a good place for Congress to search and find the latest and full summaries of information on both Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health, maybe?

Nothing is better than having leadership set the example to see the value and we need an education program to help the consumers learn how to use and manage a PHR, they also help decrease medical errors and physicians having to guess at treatment plans when credible information is readily available.

The lists of guests are below and you can click here to visit the site to listen to the video and there are some of my HealthVault PHR links in the related reading section below. BD

Committee: Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Jack Cochran, Executive Director, The Permanente Federation, Oakland, CA
Janet Corrigan, President, The National Quality Forum, Washington, DC
Valerie Melvin, Director of Information Technology, The Government Accounting Office, Washington, DC
Peter Neupert, Vice President, Microsoft Health Solutions, Redmond, WA
Mary Grealy, President, Health Leadership Council, Washington, DC