Health IT Will Lead To Safer, More Efficient Care, Leavitt Writes

I totally agree here...but next step...let's get some funding for the folks that use them...BD

Greater use of health information technology will translate into much safer and more efficient care," as well as "connect more Americans to information on quality and cost and give them more control over their health care options," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes in a Des Moines Register opinion piece. Leavitt says that doctors "also benefit from the use of electronic health records," which "save [them] from having to read through pages and pages of handwritten notes"; notify them "immediately to dangerous drug interactions and allergies"; allow "prescriptions to be sent directly from the handheld [computer] to the pharmacy"; and enable researchers to "track treatment outcomes so that they can learn more quickly from clinical practice what works best."