Report highlights gaps in health IT implementation

A report from the Bipartisan Policy Center noted that gaps persist in the nation's efforts to transition from a paper-based to a computer-based health records system.

The Associated Press: Report: Electronic Health Records Still Need Work
America may be a technology-driven nation, but the health care system's conversion from paper to computerized records needs lots of work to get the bugs out, according to experts who spent months studying the issue. Hospitals and doctors' offices increasingly are going digital, the Bipartisan Policy Center says in a report released Friday. But there's been little progress getting the computer systems to talk to one another, exchanging data the way financial companies do (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/27).

Modern Healthcare: Bipartisan Policy Center Report: Alignment Needed On Health IT
Misaligned incentives, privacy and security concerns and lack of health information exchange are among the barriers that hinder adoption and use of health information technology, according to a new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT, a 32-member multistakeholder group co-chaired by former Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Dr. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) (McKinney, 1/27).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Bipartisan Report Highlights Gaps, Recommendations For Health IT
The Bipartisan Policy Center released a 43-page report detailing the gaps in health IT implementation – the biggest concern being a delay in getting the various systems to be able to talk to one another (Kulkarni, 1/27).

In other health IT news -;

The Washington Post: Entrepreneurs Try To Fill Gap In Online Medical Help
Recognizing a need for innovation, the government has made some of its raw data available on healthdata.gov., a central database where developers can get information for Web sites and apps. So far, the database includes everything from food safety recalls to fatality statistics, but the challenge remains the dearth of comparable information (ElBoghhdady, 1/29).

Boston Globe: Putting Care In Patients' Hands
Such is the process of invention at the MIT Media Lab. During the past two weeks, six teams of students, doctors, engineers, product designers, computer programmers, and entrepreneurs have been developing prototypes of inventions designed to help patients take control of their health. One group tackled pain management, others focused on diabetes, cardiac rehabilitation, setting recovery goals for older patients, post-operative care for children, and yes, childhood asthma (Weintraub, 1/30).