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Governmental Initiative for the Elderly and Poor

By Staff Reporters

According to Nancy Ferris of Government Health IT, on Mar 18, 2009, a rapid learning health information data network could close some gaps in medical knowledge and cut costs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.

A Congressional Letter

In a letter to Congress, a group of health policy experts urged creation of a network to share information on Medicare and Medicaid patients in order to improve treatment received. In particular, Lynn Etheredge, one signatory of the letter, wants information to be shared on “dual eligible’s”. This term is defined as low income, elderly patients who receive money for medical care from both Medicare [Federal] and Medicaid [State] sources.

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According to Etheredge, there are 7 million such dually-eligible patients in the US, which represents 40 percent of Medicaid spending, and 25 percent of Medicare spending. Etheredge and the others suggest that a network backed by government policy would hasten treatments for everyone.

Assessment

Others who signed the letter include Kenneth Kizer, who created the health-records system for the Department of Veteran Affairs; Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis; National Quality Forum [NQF] President and CEO Janet Corrigan and National Committee for Quality Assurance [NCQA] President Margaret O’Kane. 

Link: http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/03/18/network-for-data-on-medicaid-medicare-patients.aspx

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. One conclusion of this letter was that“[Researchers] spend way too much time simply acquiring data.” Do you agree, why or why not? Please opine. Will networked eHRs, eMRs and eDRs really save money and time; or cost money and time? Can they be inter-operable and connected on a nationally networked basis that is cost-effective, secure and available to all providers? What about CCHIT, and other vendors?

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Filed under: Health Insurance, Health Law & Policy, Information Technology, Quality Initiatives | Tagged: CCHIT, Commonwealth Fund, Congressional letter, Department of Veteran Affairs, healt information technology, Health I.T., HIPAA, HIT, Information Technology, Janet Corrigan, Karen Davis, Kenneth Kizer, Lynn Etheredge, Margaret O'Kane, Medicaid, medicare, National Committee for Quality Assurance, National Quality Forum, NCQA, NQF, old patients, poor patients | 2 Comments »