Gov. Bredesen: Federal e-Health push is 'overdue' and unfocused

Email | Print By Milt Capps

04-10-2006 2:54 PM — Democrats Governor Phil Bredesen and U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-5) today called for more urgent and creative federal action to accelerate adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) throughout America's healthcare delivery system.

In response to a question from NashvillePost.com, Gov. Bredesen said that in his view federal efforts to advance health-information technologies are too sluggish and unfocused. As a result, he said, "I'm busy developing four incompatible systems" to support the information-technology needs of Tennessee's TennCare and related programs.

He said more federal vision and leadership would assure these systems would be more compatible with one another and could interoperate with systems of other states.

Gov. Bredesen indicated he has seen too few results from the efforts from Office of National Health Information Technology Coordinator Dr. David Brailer, who is tasked with speeding adoption of health information technology.

"Where is Dr. Brailer?" the governor rhetorically asked his audience of more than 200, adding, "This is already past due." His remarks came during the "Accelerating e-Health in Tennessee" conference here today.

Cooper said that while adoption of electronic medical records and related technologies "is one of the true bipartisan" issues, "I don't sense the urgency" needed to truly transform healthcare.

That transformation is expected to dramatically alter the dyamics of health care delivery, services and consumer-involvement, partly by making it easier to track the performance of providers and the quality of their services; and, partly by averting deadly drug interactions and other threats to patient safety. EMRs and other initiatives may also mitigate rising healthcare costs for all parties.

Although both Cooper and Bredesen praised fellow speaker and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, they made pointedly clear they were little impressed by the EMR-adoption gameplan described by Leavitt during a morning session. Said Bredesen, "it's not enough and we're missing a real opportunity" to improve the quality of care and to reach underserved pockets of the population.

Leavitt prefaced his remarks by saying that the United States must accelerate EMR adoption or face being "eliminated as a global competitor." He then outlined plans for pooling healthcare data to allow more comparisons among providers; adopting quality standards to increase consumer pressure for more cost-effective services; and, for sponsoring model EMR projects and regional health information organizations (RHIO) in up to 25 key U.S. markets within three years.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7-R) said that while Congress grapples with needed legislation, industry must create new technology products that will enable healthcare providers to satisfy requirements of records-management, payment transactions, privacy and other compliance issues. She also stressed she believes that causing consumers to be more "engaged" in making their healthcare decisions will be crucial in bringing market forces to bear on these issues.

Bredesen said the federal government should consider adopting an approach to advancing EMRs that would be similar to process employed in rapidly launching the Internet. The Internet-like process would entail inviting industry and public comments on proposed standards. The resulting discussion would provide "a framework in which the intelligence and creativity of American business and universities can flourish."

On April 6, Gov. Bredesen formalized a new e-Health advisory council, a group of sixteen persons whose names have not yet been disclosed, and who will support efforts by the council's chairman, Antoine Agassi, a veteran healthcare information-technology executive who reports to Bredesen Finance and Administration Commissioner Dave Goetz. Related story on the Bredesen-appointed Council, here.

Today's event was sponsored by Dell Inc., the Technology CEO Council, Nashville Technology Council, Nashville Health Care Council and Tennessee Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Dell President and CEO Kevin Rollins presided.