| Every Presidential succession, a new President | | | | errors." This inevitably leads to finger pointing at a |
| seems to make promises to modernize U.S. | | | | "paper system" where physicians jot down |
| healthcare, most of them he can't keep. The | | | | prescriptions in often ineligible handwriting, where |
| Obama Administration's ambitious agenda to | | | | patient files and records are misplaced and have |
| reform a broken healthcare system seems | | | | to be needlessly duplicated or even created anew |
| calculated in a similar fashion. But everything is not | | | | from scratch, sacrificing not only paper but |
| always as it seems. This time, the new measures | | | | efficiency and perhaps safety in the old-fashioned |
| offered might achieve results - especially in | | | | processing. In fact, a wider adoption of medical |
| relation to electronic medical records software | | | | records should save lives. |
| implementation. | | | | EMR systems are quite efficient and proficient in |
| Healthcare IT (Information Technology) has | | | | the managing and dispensing of prescription drugs, |
| surfaced as a distinct priority backed up by dollars | | | | the primary source of medical errors. But can the |
| - lots of dollars; even with some substantial | | | | Obama-era U.S. healthcare juggernaut take full |
| shaving of dollars in the stimulus package ($30 | | | | advantage of a newfound electronic data stream? |
| billion was originally allotted for Healthcare IT), the | | | | How much of the data will be quantifiable in a |
| numbers remaining are still a "healthy" $19 billion. | | | | traditional sense? The size of data warehouses will |
| Much of the administration's attention is focused | | | | be growing radically. Can the stream be mined |
| on mechanisms that improve access to data, of | | | | adequately in the coming years for qualitative |
| which a prominent facet has to be electronic | | | | analysis? These questions will pose enormous |
| medical records systems and software. | | | | challenges, but also offer potentially staggering |
| An Obama stated objective is to "invest in | | | | rewards. |
| proven strategies to reduce preventable medical | | | | |