Electronic Health Records (EHR, EMR)
Transparency, in the form of a complete, patient-centered and accessible health record is a policy principle that can drive the next wave of health care innovation. Investing exclusively in institutional EHRs will further stifle efficiency, innovation and improvement.
(By John Halamka, MD) It's inauguration day. The energy is palpable. Dozens of people have emailed me about their sense of optimism, their commitment to personal responsibility, and their "Yes We Can" attitude toward the audacious healthcare reform work ahead.
On Dec. 19, we published an Open Letter to the Obama Health Team, cautioning the incoming Administration against limiting its Health Information Technology (IT) investments to Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Instead, we recommended that their health IT plan be rethought to favor a large array of innovative applications that can be easily adopted...
Yesterday we tried to put EHRs into perspective. They're important, and we can't effectively move health care forward without them. But they're only one of many important health IT functions.
When I lecture about the new generation of personal health records such as Google Health and Microsoft Healthvault, I emphasize that these applications are not covered by HIPAA.
