E-Health Needs Better Design

A recent article the Congress Daily reported on a forum sponsored by Health IT Now, a group lobbying for the creation of a national electronic health information communication network and experiences of IT directors at different health care facilities regarding how electronic health (EHR) records are improving the quality of patient care.

For instance, in the article, Chuck Goux, vice president of information technology for Golden Living, a Fort Smith, Arkansas-based nursing home chain with facilities in 24 states, is quoted as saying his company had switched from a paper to computer-based system in the last several years. He said the system allowed medical personnel in the facilities to "push a button, find out what needs to be known (about a patient) and act on it." He added that "to have this information at your fingertips is a tremendous asset."

What is interesting is that a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine titled "Off the Record â€" Avoiding the Pitfalls of Going Electronic" (Volume 358:1656-1658) by Harvard Medical School faculty members Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband warn that based on their observations, some EHR system designs are impeding the quality of patient care instead of improving it.