TECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH CARE: A GOOD FIT

HARRISBURG, APRIL 1 – State Sen. Connie Williams today introduced a Senate resolution declaring May 12, 2008 as Pennsylvania Health Care Information Technology Awareness Day in Pennsylvania.

 "Why should people care about how technology is impacting health-care delivery in Pennsylvania," Williams asked. "They should care, because technology has the potential to reduce medical errors, prevent adverse drug events, ensure quicker diagnosis through less invasive tests and create a medical record system that ensures your medical records are up-to-date and accessible by the health care professionals that you see on a regular basis, as well as in times of emergency. In short, technology has the potential to save lives and to reduce health-care costs in a very real way."

 Williams, who is Democratic Chair of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee, has spent the last several years traveling across Pennsylvania to see technology in use. She has witnessed the use of computer technology to link rural and urban hospitals, providing people in rural communities with specialists, who can read their scans and communicate with the patient in real time, as well as being shown e-prescribing programs that reduce human error and immediately show any potential negative interactions a patient may have with other drugs, and has visited smart houses equipped with technology that allow people to remain independent much longer.

 In introducing the resolution, Williams noted that widespread adoption and effective use of health care technology (such as electronic medical records systems and other information management systems) could save the United States health-care system $162 billion annually. According to a report of the Institute of Medicine, at least 1.5 million adverse drug events could be prevented each year. Each of these events adds more than $8,700 to the cost of a hospital stay.

 "As you can see, there is a real savings – in lives and in dollars – to be realized by investing in technology," Williams said. "Pennsylvania's hospitals and health systems are ahead of the national curve in the adoption of clinical information technology and information management systems, but only 17 percent of Pennsylvania hospitals report that most of their medical practitioners routinely use this technology for such things as ordering medications. Clearly, awareness needs to be raised to the vital role technology will play in helping to save lives and reduce the cost of health care for all Pennsylvanians."

 Williams is working with the Pennsylvania branch of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) to declare May 12, 2008 as Pennsylvania Health Care Information Technology Awareness Day in Pennsylvania. This represents HIMSS' very first advocacy day in the Capitol.

 "I applaud the work of HIMSS and other technology-oriented organizations to educate the public about the lives saved and health-care costs that can be reduced through the use of health-care information technology," Williams said.