Families in this country face challenges, but none is more serious that the soaring costs of health care, according to Senator Kennedy. Our country needs to invest in innovative new treatments and IT systems in order to reduce costs, become more efficient, and most importantly reduce medical errors. It has been found that one in seven primary care visits result in missing records that can result in errors. Forty percent of the patients are affected by medical errors, and a third of those medical errors resulted in damage.
It is very important to pass bipartisan legislation. The Senate passed the “Wired for Health Care Quality Act” six months ago, but now both sides of the aisle need to work together find solutions. Some of the areas that need to be addressed in legislation are grant programs, establishing RHIOs and federal/state partnerships, providing for low interest loans, and developing best practice centers to help doctors keep up-to-date.
The Veterans Administration is doing the job right and has set the gold standard for using health IT, with the Department of Defense close behind. Since 1996, the VA has reduced the cost for patient care by 7%.
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