Blumenthal calls for more study on uses of health IT
By Mary Mosquera
Monday, September 14, 2009
Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT, 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.
In remarks today at a conference sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Blumenthal said more documented research will help providers put their systems into practice and use it effectively. Until now, research about health IT has been limited, he said.
Public and private organizations have conducted research to identify the value of electronic health records and other health IT systems in specific situations and institutions, like a single hospital, practice or health care network, Blumenthal told the AHRQ audience.
But the stimulus will establish EHRs in many settings that have not been studied. So research will have to be ramped up to learn the best approaches of using health in those areas, he said.
“We are going to be hungry for how to implement health information technology the most efficiently to gain the greatest value for the health IT investment,” he said. “We’re at that transition that we see every time a new technology is moved out from the laboratory.”
AHRQ director Dr. Carolyn Clancy, who also addressed the conference, said the stimulus requires a number of studies about the impact of health IT, including a look at the delivery of health, quality, efficiency as well as reducing disparities.
AHRQ awards health IT research grants to providers and it will increase grants through stimulus funding, she added.
To be eligible for increased Medicare and Medicaid payments, the stimulus requires that healthcare providers be meaningful users of health IT. Meaningful use will result in a more accountable healthcare system and one that produces more value, Blumenthal said.
The Health IT Policy Committee, which Blumenthal leads, has laid out the steps providers must take by 2011 to use health IT to collect data for improved patient management, care processes and to assure better outcomes for patients. The committee next meets Sept. 18.
Blumenthal called for building an infrastructure for continuous clinical improvement through the use of decision-support technology that can bring research results and new treatment information to a clinician’s fingertips.
“One thing we haven’t done is apply the scientific method in the practice of healthcare and medicine,” he said.
