Dragging health records into the Digital Age

@import url('http://www.cnet.com/css/ssa/news/special.css'); @import url('http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/css/rb/tron/blogs/default.css'); @import url('http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/css/rb/tron/matrix.css'); #h1 {background:url('http://i.n.com.com/i/ne/p/2009/e_health_header_980x182.jpg') left top;width:980px;height:182px;} #Sidebar h3 {background-color:#575858;margin:0;padding:5px 10px;color:#FFF;font-size:1.3em;text-transform:none;} a{font-weight:bold} #contentBody { overflow:visible !important;} CNET News special report: Your e-health future Dragging health records into the Digital Age May 18, 2009 4:00 AM PST By Ina Fried Staff Writer, CNET News Font size Print E-mail Share Comments cnet_news406:http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-1001_3-10241137-92.htmlYahoo! Buzz Walk through a typical Kaiser Permanente doctor's office or hospital, and you won't find a paper chart lying around. Kaiser, with 450 hospitals and offices around the country, is almost entirely paperless. But as the rest of the health care industry rushes to follow in Kaiser's digital footsteps, Kaiser's paperless success story--a 10-year, $4 billion effort--might actually serve as a cautionary tale. By no means has the Kaiser e-health project failed. In fact, besides some hiccups, it has gone well: Kaiser said it has seen more satisfied patients and a slight dip in emergency room visits and hospital stays, which cuts costs. Even the doctors grumbling the loudest beforehand don't know what they would do if they were forced back to paper. Unfortunately, the rest of the health care system looks nothing like Kaiser. Credit: Ina Fried/CNET Kaiser Permanente is testing a tablet computer to enter health care information within its hospital walls. It has been using a desktop cart on wheels, but the tablet is less intrusive and can run longer without needing a charge. Kaiser is a rare beast: both an insurance provider and medical provider. Investing in digital technology was projected to create efficiencies in its medical services and boost the bottom line. Most hospitals don't operate like that. They provide a service, bill the insurance company or the government, and move on to the next patient, efficiency be damned. Nonetheless, the United States appears to be barreling ahead with a far-reaching health care digitization effort that even proponents say leaves many questions unanswered. The Obama stimulus package provides $19 billion for hospital technology efforts, which could go a long way toward prodding penny-pinching hospitals and doctors to finally leap into the 21st century. But then what? Most experts believe that $19 billion is only a down payment on what it will really take to digitize American hospitals. What's more, successful digitization will require the reinvention of the rest of the medical industry--with insurance companies on one side and doctors on the other, in an often-nasty tug-of-war over patients and dollars. That means a change in policy as much as technology, and perhaps the most drastic overhaul of an industry in American history. "What I worry is that there are some very, very high expectations that may result in significant disappointment," said Andy Wiesenthal, the doctor who helped set up Kaiser's system. Digitizing the whole country's medical records could take a decade of sustained commitment, and "as a country, our attention span is not lengthy," Wiesenthal said.