U.S. Hospitals Slow to Adopt E-Records - WSJ.com

U.S. Hospitals Slow to Adopt E-Records - WSJ.com | By JACOB GOLDSTEIN

Only 9% of U.S. hospitals have electronic health records, according to a new survey that reveals the gap between the present state of American health care and a high-tech future envisioned by policy makers.

"We are at a very early stage in adoption, a very low stage compared to other countries," said David Blumenthal, a Harvard professor and an author of the survey. Last week, the Obama administration named Dr. Blumenthal National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

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Only 1.5% of hospitals have adopted what the survey's authors define as a comprehensive, hospital-wide system. Another 7.6% of hospitals have adopted basic systems in at least one unit of the hospital, according to a less-rigorous definition that includes electronic physician notes, but not certain other features. ...

OpEdNews � Insurance Industry is Simply a Parasite Feeding on the US Health System

OpEdNews � Insurance Industry is Simply a Parasite Feeding on the US Health System
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Health insurance companies add zero value to the delivery of health care. Indeed, they are a significant cost factor that sucks up, according to some estimates such as one by the organization Physicians for a National Health Program, as much as 31 percent of every dollar spent on medical services (a percentage that has been rising steadily year after year).

Insurance companies are damaging in more ways than simply cost, though.

... They also actively interfere in the delivery of quality medical care, as anyone who has had to battle with some “nurse” on the phone at an insurance company to get required pre-authorization for needed procedure can attest....

... Insurance companies have managed to stay profitable and at least somewhat affordable to the private employers and workers who, together, have to pay for them, by denying care not just to policy holders, who are denied certain tests and treatments but especially to those who have known ailments, who are simply denied coverage altogether.

... Medicare is efficient (only 3.6% of Medicare’s budget goes to administrative costs, compared to 31% for health care delivered through private insurance plans), its clients like it, and doctors and hospitals accept it.