BY SHERI PORTER
 Clockwise from top: David Brailer, M.D., Ph.D.; Tommy Thompson; Sen. Bill Frist, M.D., R-Tenn.; Rep Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.; and Douglas Henley, M.D. (see "Feds praise AAFP's IT role -- Academy announces physician EHR coalition at summit). All have their say at the D.C. summit. |
"We're going to get health care out of the horse and buggy days." That was the word from HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson when he spoke to a standing-room-only crowd here recently at the Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology.
Talking to more than 1,500 technology and health leaders (including AAFP leaders), Thompson illustrated his point: You can pull out your bank card and use it anywhere in the world, he said, "but show up in an emergency room 50 miles from home and you'll have to scramble to find your medical history."
Thompson said no one paid attention when he first started talking about electronic health records four years ago. Patient care suffers as doctors wade through paperwork that is tied up in manila folders and spread over many offices, he said. "Our doctors have worked in the dark long enough. Working together, we can turn on the lights."
The summit provided the backdrop for the release of "The Decade of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and Information-rich Health Care," a report prepared by HHS' national coordinator for health information technology, David Brailer, M.D., Ph.D. To read the executive summary and related materials, go to http://www.hhs.gov/onchit/framework.
Brailer compared the July 21 summit and astronaut Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, 35 years ago to the day: "This is as big and important and bold as any goal in our society. This is not about technology; this is about the transformation of health care."
There are more questions than answers, said Brailer. "What we're trying to do is create the lines -- we want all of you to color them in." He added, "We need to do this without substantial regulation and industry upheaval."
Administrators from CMS, NIH, CDC, FDA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality expressed their commitment to coordinating this effort from all angles.
"I'm enormously impressed by the sheer human capital in this room," said AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy, M.D. She reiterated AHRQ's mission to improve quality and safety. "From the prospect of AHRQ, we think this framework rocks," she said.
Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., agreed: "When we get technology in place so that physicians and their staff love it, it's going to change everyone's world." She challenged the audience to share the health IT vision with their rotary clubs, chambers of commerce and "all those folks who make our economy work."
"If we don't succeed in doing this right, we'll fail the American people," she said.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., R-Tenn., also made an appearance to show his support. "I speak as a policy-maker, as a physician and as one who cares about the future of health care delivery," said Frist.
In 10 years, America's population will be older, better educated, more affluent, more wired and more mobile, he said. They'll be living longer and living with chronic illnesses. "What isn't working today certainly won't work if we project that onto tomorrow," said Frist. "We've got to transform our health care system into one that is patient-centered, consumer-driven and provider-friendly."
To reach writer Sheri Porter, e-mail sporter@aafp.org.
FP Report is published by the
AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2004 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.