David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., recently wrote an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine titled “Stimulating the Adoption of Health Information Technology.”
Dr. Blumenthal is director of the Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital–Partners Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School — both in Boston. He has been named National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
His article discusses the implications of the recently enacted stimulus bill — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) — and its unprecedented $19 billion program to promote the adoption and use of health information technology (HIT) and especially electronic health records (EHRs).
The article addresses the need for improved HIT and EHRs and highlights some of the challenges enacting changes in the current system. Dr. Blumenthal concludes that . . .
“The nation’s economic woes have given birth to an unprecedented federal effort to modernize the information systems of a troubled health care system. It is now up to the government and the nation’s health care professionals and facilities to turn this opportunity into real improvements in the health and health care of Americans.”
To read the entire article, please visit the NEJM website.
