Health Information Technology – the new standard?

There has been much talk about Health IT among administrators, policy makers and health officials to implement this concept and save on billions. What exactly is Health IT?

Health Information Technology is a term that is often used interchangeably with “electronic medical records”. It is a system where medical professionals store the information usually contained in a patient chart on a computer, rather than on paper.

Health IT can be used to streamline and improve efficiency and quality of patients who receive health care. Many people have health conditions that require them to consult different doctors with different specializations. A person consulting a general physician can consult a different physician specializing in cardio or ENT. So both the doctors can have access the patient’s medical charts and update them real time. It eliminates the use of keeping paper records for every visit.

Hospitals can also readily access medical records of the patient and can determine the medicine dosages and treat the patient more effectively and rapidly. Health IT records are also safe from natural disasters and eliminates cross geographic boundaries. Health IT reduces healthcare costs and time. You no longer have to fill out insurance forms while registering in a healthcare facility. All your insurance records would be available by a single mouse click.

But, Health IT is not without its demerits. Though Health IT can save billions of dollars, implementing such a system can cost a fortune up front. Also knowledge transfer will take a lot of time. All healthcare workers and physicians have to be educated about the system and it will take a considerable amount of time. Health IT system would also not guaranteed failsafe. There is always the threat of security, with hackers exploiting loopholes in the system to access confidential medical records. If you are to outsource the complete implementation, there is the roadblock of privacy and intellectual property. Also quality of work needs to be at a premium.

In conclusion, Health IT looks very promising. If such a system could be adopted, it could improve the efficiency and quality of health care, reduce health care costs, and completely change the way our health care system works. Overall, the potential benefits outweigh the possible drawbacks.