Posted on 05/11/2005 12:19:20 PM PDT by kingattax
Personal health records and other health care information technology could decrease medical errors and save money, but incompatibility between information systems and insufficient government funding are delaying progress, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), founder of the... Center for Health Transformation, said Monday, TechnologyDaily reports.
Speaking at a congressional forum on health care information technology sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Gingrich said current methods of estimating the cost of health care IT are "irrational" because they only consider initial investments and do not take long-term savings into account (Belopotosky, TechnologyDaily, 5/10).
Gingrich said the federal government should invest $3 billion to $5 billion in health care IT, rather than the $125 million requested by the Bush administration for the 2006 budget. In addition, Gingrich proposed a voluntary system for U.S. residents to create and maintain personal electronic health records. Each user would have a unique identification number that doctors could use to access the person's medical history -- a step that Gingrich said could decrease medical errors.
According to Gingrich, privacy concerns over health care identification numbers would be alleviated because the system would be voluntary. He estimated that about 90% to 95% of U.S. residents would use such a system (CQ HealthBeat [1], 5/9).
A HealthCast of Gingrich's speech is available online at kaisernetwork.org
More praise for hellary...the Bushes getting all 'buddy-buddy' with the clintoons and now Gingrich blowin smoke up Her Thighness' caboose....WHAT THE H*ll IS GOING ON HERE ????
"WHAT THE H*ll IS GOING ON HERE ????"
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Who did you vote for in the last election? Republicrats or Demicans?
baloney! the bigger the database the more prone it is to errors. remember why we can all get "free" credit reports annually?
i don't want my medical records available to any hacker/cracker/bug/virus/etc.!
imagine someone accessing your medical file and planting a record stating that you are being treated for HIV. Then imagine that information being leaked.
Gingrich said the federal government should invest $3 billion to $5 billion in health care IT
It's always the same crap. If the long-term savings are significant, THE FRIGGIN' PRIVATE SECTOR WILL DO IT.
Newt, you're demonstrating that you're part of the problem in Washington, not part of any solution.
It seems that more and more republs are becoming leftists.
Next time vote Constitutinalist.
maybe the hildebeast is thinking of switching parties, and the newt is trying to prepare the faithful?
Does anyone else remember when it was only the Democrats that called increased government spending "investments"?
First Jeffords, now Newt. Is it any wonder Conservative Republicans are crying out for some Conservative republican leadership?
he said the money should be invested not in health care, but in health care IT - information technology.
hands up for everybody who wants the government keeping everybody's health care records?
remember all the money spent on that FBI computer system that eventually was scrapped?
Now THIS ???
you sure could be right, DL !
Hey Neut.......kiss my grits.
Are you referring to the $4.5 billion Homeland Security computer system that doesn't work, or is there another scrapped system I forgot about?
why can't he just go quietly into the night, or keep his talks about something he knows about - econimics?
not sure. could be the same one. all I know was that it was a heck of a lot of my money for nothing.
Newt's been praising the Hildebeast's "work" for some time now. It seems he's going down the primrose path with Lindsey Graham.
Never trust Newt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.