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HIMSS Commends President Bush for Encouraging Wider Use of Electronic Health Records and Health IT in the State of the Union Address

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 February 2006, 12:00 CST

CHICAGO, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) President & CEO H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, issued the following statement regarding President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address.

Last week, we called on the President to continue our nation's commitment to transforming healthcare through the use of information technology. Tonight, we commend President Bush for reiterating his call for improving healthcare using information technology. This is the third year in a row that the President has recognized the need to expand the use of Health IT to lower costs, reduce medical errors, and improve quality of care.

We urge the President and Congress to continue reaching out to both national and local experts and the health professionals in the public and private sector who currently use health IT to save lives and save money. There are numerous success stories across the country that should be replicated. For example, in Beaumont, Texas, Southeast Texas Medical Associates credits their use of transcription for documenting medical records to helping the organization grow to three clinical locations and a fully integrated operational EHR system with 24 physicians and a staff of 260. Wayne Obstetrics and Gynecology, with more than 6,000 patient encounters a year, is a model of excellence for small provider practices in a rural setting. Based in Jessup, Georgia, this solo practice in rural Georgia views its EHR as a distinct asset in the volatile world of OB malpractice.

These organizations along with the Indian Health Service Clinical Reporting System in Warm Springs, Oregon, the North Carolina Bioterrorism and Emerging Infection Prevention System in Chapel Hill, Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Specialists in Birmingham, Ala., and Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar, Missouri are recipients of the HIMSS 2005 Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence. Since 1994, the Davies Award Program has encouraged and recognized excellence in the implementation and use of health IT systems. Details on these and other success stories are available on http://www.himss.org/ASP/daviesAward.asp .

Dr. Nicholas E. Davies was an Atlanta-based practice physician committed to the ideal of improving patient care through better health information management. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine patient record study committee, which coined the term "computer-based patient record." Dr. Davies was chairperson-elect of the American College of Physicians. In April 1991, he was tragically killed in a plane crash with Senator John G. Tower (Rep.) of Texas. His ideals live on in the Davies Award of Excellence.

In 2004, the President launched an initiative to make electronic health records available to most Americans within the next 10 years. With electronic health records, information needed to treat patients effectively will be a computer click away, no matter where the patient is receiving care. The Administration has taken steps towards improving health IT, including: establishing the position of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and providing $100 million to fund projects harmonizing standards for electronic information exchange; developing certification criteria to ensure health IT investments meet proper standards; addressing privacy and security issues; and developing models for a national Internet-based health information system. Through the American Health Information Community (AHIC), the Administration and the private sector are building a common framework for implementing a nationwide electronic health records system. In 2006, the Administration will work to develop nationwide Health IT standards to accelerate patient access to Electronic Health Records. This includes a "medical clipboard" that can only be accessed with the patient's consent, electronic medication history and lab results, and ways to utilize health information tools to monitor potential disease outbreaks such as pandemic influenza.

HIMSS is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of human health. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., and other locations across the country, HIMSS represents approximately 17,000 individual members and some 275-member corporations that employ more than 1 million people. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives designed to promote information and management systems' contributions to ensuring quality patient care.

First Call Analyst: FCMN Contact:

Health Information and Management Systems Society

CONTACT: Sharolyn Hyson of HIMSS, +1-703-837-9819, shyson@himss.org

Web site: http://www.himss.org/ASP/daviesAward.asp

Source: PRNewswire

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