This document discusses the importance of health information technology (IT) in improving patient care in the United States. It argues that just as President Eisenhower's interstate highway system connected the country economically and socially, health IT can connect individuals and the healthcare system through electronic health records. The document notes that both major political parties recognize the benefits of investing in health IT, as evidenced by support in their platforms. It outlines how the federal government is supporting the adoption of health IT through programs and incentives. In conclusion, it states that a robust health IT system will ultimately help improve healthcare quality while reducing costs through personalized treatment and use of best practices.

1. Health Information Technology: Paving the Way to Improved Patient Care
Posted: 09/11/2012 11:53 am
In the 1950s, President Eisenhower started an interstate highway system to link our country, from
Rhode Island to California. To this day, the interstate system remains the heart of our country's road
infrastructure, supporting travel, commerce and transportation. This public investment paid off in long-
term social and economic benefits for all Americans.
Health care offers a new opportunity to build a lasting national infrastructure that will -- like our
interstate highway system -- connect individuals, create new economic opportunities and improve the
quality and efficiency of our current system. That infrastructure is health information technology (IT).
Despite heated political debates on the future of our health care system, there is bipartisan agreement
that health IT can be a powerful tool to transform and modernize the delivery of health care in our
country. Health IT is about helping patients and their loved ones. Any patient who has a serious illness
requiring multiple doctors understands the frustration of lost medical charts, repeated procedures, or
having to share the same information over and over with different doctors and nurses. Health IT helps
save lives now lost due to preventable medical errors, from incorrect diagnoses and needless infections
to drug mix-ups and surgical mishaps. As important, health IT will support the use of the most successful
treatments, so that we use best practices to narrow the wide discrepancies in the quality of care
Americans receive.
These core principles -- helping patients, preventing medical errors, promoting best practices and
improving quality -- are the reasons that health IT is featured in both the 2012 Republican
platform and 2012 Democratic platform. Both parties recognize the long-term benefits from
investments in health IT for our economy and for the health of the Americans we serve.
The U.S. is already moving ahead with the deployment of a strong health IT network. This movement
was spurred by the federal investment included in the 2009 Recovery Act. It is supported by the smart
delivery system reforms of the Affordable Care Act, such as paying for quality of care, not just quantity,
and better coordination of care for patients with multiple illnesses. Thousands of practitioners and
hospitals across the country are leaving cumbersome paper records behind and making electronic
health records the new norm. In my home state, the nonprofit Rhode Island Quality Institute has
emerged as a national leader helping doctors put information technology to work for their patients.
So what does this mean for you, as a patient? As I noted in a report earlier this year, health IT is at the
heart of a growing movement to help improve the sustainability of Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and
private coverage by improving the quality of care you receive while reducing the costs. In the long term,
a robust health IT network will support personalized treatment that adheres to proven best practices,

2. and adapts to your personal health circumstances. The time will come when, whatever illness you may
have, for your body type and health history, there will "be an app for that" to keep you on your best
path to wellness.
For all these reasons, I look forward to taking part in the seventh annual National Health IT Week, which
began on Monday, September 10. This series of events highlights health IT developments, success
stories and innovators. The breadth of the policy discussion and excitement among participants makes it
clear that the national health IT movement is picking up steam and driving positive change in our health
care system. Please join me in recognizing National Health IT Week as we work to build the technology
infrastructure that will carry the American health care system into the future.
Follow Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SenWhitehouse
------------
Source: - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-sheldon-whitehouse/health-information-
techno_b_1874151.html
“Investments across any sub-vertical of infrastructure cannot be measured for returns within the span of
4 to 8 years. It would be unfair to press the present President of the United States towards the impact of
such a massive investment towards channelizing and wiring medical records”, remarks Mr. Shriram
Parthasarathy – Head Marketing and Strategic Alliances – Acroseas Global Solutions. “The rate of
adoption is a little slow at the moment, which is primarily due to the traditional mindsets prevailing
across the industry especially amongst the senior officials who have been in the industry for decades
together.” He adds.