WASHINGTON – The widespread use of healthcare information technology is a critical first step to curing much of what ails the healthcare system, the heads of three national healthcare organizations say in a "Shared Roadmap and Vision for Health IT," released Wednesday.
 
Read the full plan here.

The executives of the National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC), Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) and Certification Commission on Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) - John Tooker, MD, John D. Halamka, MD, and Mark Leavitt, MD - prepared the document jointly.

Tooker, executive vice president and CEO of the American College of Physicians and chairman of the board for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), chairs the board of NeHC. Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, is HITSP's chairman and a practicing emergency physician. Leavitt is the CCHIT's chairman.

"The nation's business competitiveness is threatened by growing healthcare costs, while at the same time our citizens risk losing access to care because of unemployment and the decreasing affordability of coverage," the three wrote. "Meanwhile, the quality variations and safety shortfalls in our care system have been well documented."

"Health IT is not a panacea for all of these challenges, but it is a critical first step toward addressing many of them," they said.

In the section titled "Roadmap," the executives outlined what an interoperable electronic health record means for patient care:

• Quality of care will be improved by coordinating handoffs between providers. No longer will a patient be asked to fill out the clipboard with the basics of identity, medications taken and existing medical conditions.
• Medications will be checked for interactions as they are prescribed. Caregivers will be electronically notified of critical values in lab results and important results on x-rays.
• Patients will be able to access their medical records electronically, communicate with their doctors and use home monitoring devices to coordinate care without a visit to the doctor's office.
• Beyond these improvements in quality, safety and convenience, the coordination of care will result in better value for the healthcare dollar by minimizing redundancy and waste.

"The roadmap for standards harmonization, certification of healthcare IT products and secure data sharing of medication, laboratory and clinical summary information is clear," the authors said. "Completing this work is a journey and all our organizations, NeHC, HITSP and CCHIT, are unified to walk that road together."

"Our vision is one of a 21st Century health system in which all health information is electronic, delivered instantly and securely to individuals and their care providers when needed, and capable of analysis for constant improvement and research," they concluded.