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February 11, 2009 12:21 AM UTC

National Coordinator for Health Information Technology?

  • 7 Comments
  • by: Western Way

One of my many reservations about the stimulus package (S. 336) that was just passed by the senate and is now in resolution, is the sheer amount of “stuff” (yes, that is a technical term) that is in this bill.  Section 3001 (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:15:./temp/~c111vU3qLS:e329207:)creates the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, who would report directly to the Secretary of HHS.  

The question that we all should be asking ourselves is does this belong in a bill like this?  With so many different appropriations, earmarks, etc. being put in to this bill it is difficult for the American people to know what is going on…  All bills like this do is increase the democratic deficit the average American feels.

Let’s think about the above…  Do I want the government to have access to my health-care records?  Do I want my doctor to give up his autonomy (A page out of the Daschle playbook “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis), in favor of a more collective process of decision making about my health?

In conclusion, if policymakers are really serious about working for the American people, they need to be upfront with us (the people) and let us know what the hell they are passing (and MSM, do a better job holding them accountable).

Comments

7 thoughts on “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology?

  1. Drudge featured it this morning, and Congress will be getting letters and phone calls.

    Health shouldn’t be in the stimulus bill, but it will be because Dems know the public won’t support socialized medicine in a stand alone bill.

    Another act of dishonesty by Obama. He’s supporting Pelosi and Reid, and the public is catching on.

    1. to put records into an electronic form is hardly socialized medicine, but if that’s all you got …

      What exactly do you think should be in a stimulus bill? Providing money to modernize an industry, with long-term benefits, creates jobs, buys equipment and puts people to work. That’s exactly the definition of stimulus.

      You’re just grasping at straws, AS. But if Drudge featured it, I’ll buy the fact a lot of seniors might be scared. When they figure out what’s actually going on, maybe they’ll turn on Drudge for trumpeting yet another alarmist fiction. Maybe, maybe not.

  2. Would you want them spending so much money to promote Health IT (which is a stimulus item AND will save us on health care costs in the future) without hiring (new jobs=stimulus) people to manage that spending effectively?

    I guess after 8 years of Republicans, we’ve gotten too used to spending without any oversight or control so that much of it goes into a black hole (rich corporate pockets) rather than where it was intended by policy (though arguably Bush intended the money to go to the black hole).

  3. First off this is a good thing. Paper records are responsible for something like 100,000 deaths/year. There is missing info, bad handwriting, mis-transcriptions, etc.

    Then add in the fact that the present system is incredibly inefficient. It is the one major industry that still runs on paper. So we can reduce our medical spending and improve our medical care all in one.

    Second, yes this is stimulus the same as building a highway is. It is providing a better infrastructure and hiring people to create that infrastructure.

    1. And, Dave, you probably are aware that EMRs shift clerical costs to docs in a big way. I know docs who spend evenings and weekends online, updating medical records that used to be done quickly on paper, if they were done at all.

      There are good reasons docs have resisted EMRs for almost 40 years. They’re a pain to do for the docs.

      I support EMRs if they can be done quickly with automatic transcription of recorded messages. Think of, I think, speakeasy, on the iPhone.

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