“One thing we haven’t done is apply the scientific method in the practice of healthcare and medicine,” stated Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT, and Chair of the HIT Policy Committee, in reference to healthcare information technology.
What an understatement!
According to Government Health IT, a HIMSS publication, Dr. Blumenthal “anticipates an enormous amount of research will be needed to determine the effectiveness of health information technology at the same time as it is widely deployed under the stimulus.” Speaking at a conference sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Dr. Blumenthal conceded that although some organizations have studied EHRs and other health IT tools in specific institutions or healthcare networks, the stimulus plan will encourage adoption in settings that have not yet been studied.
Incredibly, this didn’t stop the federal government from allocating $19.2 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars (actually, $36 billion, minus a hoped-for savings of $17 billion) to financially encourage physicians and hospitals to adopt this untested technology.
I’m speechless!
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So are many of the health informaticians that have spent their careers trying to get funding for research for the past 20 years.
Actually, I feel that “It’s An Outrage!” should be reserved for the financial markets and the derivatives they created.
$19 billion is but drop in the bucket when you look at the many trillions of dollars the financial crash has cost everyone (including hard earned tax dollars)!
The fact that we have not applied the scientific process to better healthcare is highly symptomatic of the current condition of our healthcare system(s). I think a more appropriate statement would be “Better Late Than Never!”