A whitepaper recently released by Booz Allen Hamilton examined ways health information and communications technology can accelerate progress toward improved patient outcomes and a genuinely patient-centered healthcare system.
The study concluded that increased use of electronic medical records (EMRs), e-prescribing and other technologies can increase efficiency, improve the quality of care, reduce costs and move the healthcare system closer to "health information liquidity," in which the flow of medical information is maximized to ensure doctors have ready access to a patient's pharmacy, laboratory and radiology histories.
The authors of the study cautioned that while EMRs "and e-prescribing are necessary starters to wire the healthcare system, they are not sufficient to achieve full interoperability," which is defined in the report as the exchange of critical patient information within and across organizational boundaries. Report authors say that even when the information is in electronic form, it is not automatically shared across network boundaries, and there is no guarantee that the information will be used when actual care decisions are made. Susan Penfield, a Booz Allen vice president, says, "We'll need other technologies and tools, but we will also need fundamental changes in the way healthcare is delivered and financed."
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