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Medicare Expands Online Health Records Programs
By Jeffrey Young, The Hill
August 10, 2008
The Bush administration is not waiting on Congress to pass legislation that increases access to online personal health records.
Beginning in January, the administration will expand access to online records in Arizona and Utah as part of an ongoing effort to encourage greater use of health information technology.
The records will contain up to two years of information from Medicare’s records. Patients will be able to add to their records and share them with physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare providers.
Congress’s efforts to pass legislation promoting health IT have been stymied so far but the Bush administration has been moving ahead with its own efforts related to Medicare.
The administration rolled out a similar program in South Carolina for traditional Medicare enrollees in April. In June 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a personal health records pilot project for some beneficiaries enrolled in private Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. CMS also said in May it is preparing to move ahead with an electronic medical records pilot project in four geographic areas.
“This exciting pilot will be a major step forward in Medicare. We believe that it will provide information that will empower consumers to manage their health,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said.
Increasing the use of health IT is a mainstay of health reform plans spanning the political spectrum, including those proposed by the presidential campaigns of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Advocates believe personal health records -- which are controlled by patients -- and electronic medical records -- which are controlled by medical providers – along with other utilities like electronic prescriptions can reduce medical errors, improve efficiency and lower costs in the healthcare system.
The private sector is also acting on to advance these technologies. An increasing number of health insurance companies are incorporating electronic health records and personal health records into their offerings. The market for providing these records also is growing, with major technology companies such as Microsoft and Google recently debuting health records products.
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