Save The Patient Receives $100,000 Donation

SAVE THE PATIENT (STP) has received a major donation that will allow the organization to expand services and establish headquarters in the Chicago land area. The $100,000 donation from a private donor will also fund the hiring of an Executive Director.

Lenore Janecek, President of STP, presented the check to the Board of Directors as a symbol of her commitment to the role and mission of the organization. Janecek said, “Patient education and empowerment are of vital importance to the health and well being of each person, but also to the evolution of a caring health care system. This donation will serve as a base for STP and help move the organization to the next level of service to the community.”

The National Health Information Infrastructure: What Every Consumer Should Know
Leslie Ann Fox, MA, RHIA

We have instant access to our money through ATM machines around the world, but not to our health information. Imagine having instant access to your medical records from anywhere in the world. If you travel, move, have homes and healthcare providers in more than one state, or if you simply have multiple healthcare providers at various facilities in your community, you would no longer have to visit or make a phone call to request that your medical records be sent from one provider to another. The National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) is a vision of an electronic network enabling you, the consumer, and those you authorize, to access your health information from any computer with Internet access.

However, make no mistake about the value of a NHII. It is about much more than just convenience. The NHII is needed to save lives, save money, and contribute significantly to finding a cure for what ails the US healthcare system. It is expected to improve patient safety by reducing medical errors, eliminating unnecessary or duplicate testing, and improving continuity of care and medical decision-making. The NHII will serve also to better meet the information needs for medical research and public health. Most important, the NHII will enable consumers to take more responsibility for managing their own health. It is envisioned that EHR systems will make it possible for patients to update their health records and better communicate with their providers. With better access to the information that is compiled during every encounter with the healthcare system, you can become a full partner in managing your health and your health information.

Why is this important initiative still a vision rather than a reality?

Real progress is being made, but daunting challenges remain. To create a NHII, the healthcare industry first must transform the traditional hand-written, paper-based medical records to electronic health records (EHRs) in thousands of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, clinics, physician practices, allied health practices, long term care facilities and home health agencies throughout the US. This transition has started, but it is estimated to take at least ten years to complete. Every physician, nurse, and allied health professional will have to learn to use the new systems, changing work habits of a lifetime. Already suffering from acute shortages in most of the healthcare professions, this transition must be accomplished while our caregivers continue providing quality care to the public.

Technology for EHRs exists today, but many issues remain to be overcome. While many components of EHR systems have been developed and implemented in individual healthcare organizations, national data standards that would enable the sharing of information through national and local computer networks are still being created and tested. Getting industry consensus and implementing data standards is a complex and lengthy process requiring the participation and ultimate agreement of hundreds of organizations and thousands of people.

Privacy and security has long been a concern with regard to health information. Consumers must be assured that no one can look at their health information without being properly authorized by the individual consumer. The recently enacted HIPAA legislation provides national guidelines for protecting the privacy of personal health information, with stiff penalties for organizations or individuals who fail to protect the confidentiality of personal health information. Security will be an ongoing challenge, but concerns are being addressed successfully through ongoing research and development of more and more sophisticated technology. In reality, information maintained in an electronic system is more secure than the traditional paper systems, in which documents are more easily lost, misfiled, stolen, damaged, or altered.

However, the “big elephant” in the room is cost. EHR technology is expensive. It will take billions of dollars for the complete transition to EHRs. Further, the nature of healthcare and health information is complex and constantly changing. EHR systems will need to be updated regularly to accommodate advances in the science of medicine. Healthcare providers alone will not be able to shoulder the burden of these expenses. Unlike other industries that can invest in technology and then charge the costs back to their customers, healthcare providers have little control over their prices. Insurance companies, employers, and government payers set the rates they will pay with little or no opportunity for negotiation. All stakeholders in the healthcare industry must participate in sharing these unprecedented expenses.

Finally, the public is not yet fully prepared to take advantage of the NHII. Health literacy and computer literacy are just two important issues that must be addressed to make sure that all citizens can benefit from the NHII. Health information management has a large body of knowledge that must become part of the basic education of every high school student. The role in health information management must be defined for family members and caregivers in the community who will assist those who are unable to do so for themselves due to their age, illness or life skills. In addition to education, access to computers must be guaranteed to all consumers. The “digital divide” that separates socio-economic groups in our society must be overcome.

Momentum for the NHII has been building

Healthcare and information technology experts are committed to overcoming the technology, standards, cost and public policy issues that have long prevented consumers, healthcare providers, payers, policy makers, and researchers access to the tools and information needed to modernize the U.S. healthcare system. A variety of private and public entities are working hard to build the NHII.

Connecting For Health: a Public-Private Collaborative established in June 2002, is one of the more prominent examples of the collaboration and commitment to making the NHII a reality. First conceived of, funded, and initiated by the Markle Foundation, and now also supported by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Connecting For Health is dedicated to addressing the barriers to electronic connectivity in healthcare. It has assembled leaders from government, industry and healthcare to drive consensus on the adoption of national standards, strategize on solutions to privacy and security concerns, and to define the electronic personal health record that every consumer will control. In July 2004, they released the report “Achieving Electronic Connectivity in Healthcare: A Preliminary Roadmap From the Nation’s Public and Private Sector Healthcare Leaders”. (To see this report go towww.connectingforhealth.org/resources/cfh_aech_roadmap_072004.pdf.)

Other significant events contributing to the advancement of the NHII in the past year include initiatives from the highest levels of the Federal Government. On April 26, 2004 President George W. Bush backed up the commitment he made during this year’s State of the Union Address, to provide leadership for electronic health records (EHR) by announcing “The President’s Health Information Technology Plan for Transforming Health Care”. (See www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/technology.) He stated the goal of ensuring that most Americans have electronic health records within the next ten years.

The President also called for the completion and adoption of standards, proposed that $100 million dollars be allocated for demonstration projects in 2005, and indicated he wants the Federal Government to create incentives and opportunities for healthcare providers reimbursed by government sponsored health care plans or working in government healthcare facilities to use EHRs. On May 6, 2004, he appointed David Brailer, M.D., to serve as national health information technology coordinator, a new sub-Cabinet level position.

A bipartisan issue, the Congress of the United States has been very supportive during the past year as well, with bills being introduced by Representative Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), the “National Health Information Infrastructure Act” (H.R.2915); Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, (D-NY), “Health Information for Quality Improvement Act” (S.2003); and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) “Health Care Quality Modernization, Cost Reduction and Quality Improvement Act (S.2421)”. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N) has also announced that he will introduce legislation to implement the President’s call for electronic health records within 10 years. These are all important bills to help advance our nation toward a healthcare system that will better serve consumers.

To stay informed about the progress of the NHII check periodically with the following Websites: http://aspe.hhs.gov/sp/nhii, http://www.connectingforhealth.org or, http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/.

For more information about your health information rights or how to obtain copies of your medical records, whether or not they are paper-based or electronic, see the Websites of the American Health Information Management Association, a not-for-profit organization of over 45,000 health information management professionals: http://www.myphr.com/, or http://www.ahima.org.

Leslie Ann Fox is a registered health information management administrator (RHIA) and chief executive officer of Care Communications, Inc. a national health information consulting and staffing firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Leslie can be reached for comments at lfox@care-communications.com.

Save The Patient Announces New Board Member

Save The Patient Board of Directors announce the addition of Nancy E. Cross to the Board of Directors. Lenore Janecek, President said Cross adds a new dimension to the Board. She said, “ Her experience in the labor movement and outstanding organizational, administrative and legal expertise will play a crucial role in the expansion of Save The Patient services.”

Ms. Cross is Vice President of the Service Employees International Union, Local 1. She is responsible for day-to-day operations of the $12 million operation. She currently serves on four Health & Welfare funds and two Pension fund boards. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts and her Jurist Doctor at Howard University School of Law.

Her volunteer activities include serving as secretary of the Board of Directors of The Gilead Center; class representative of Leadership Illinois, Class of 2003; United Power for Action and Justice, Strategic Team Member and a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor.

A more detailed biography of the Ms. Cross can be viewed at the www.savethepatient.org website.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The mission of Save the Patient is to educate and empower patients and the public to make effective and informed health care decisions through objective resources. We are accomplishing our goal by providing information through Patient Advocacy, Community Outreach, Educational seminars, the Internet and our Health Carrying Cards. We have distributed over 3,000 of the Health Carrying Cards, which are available in Spanish, Polish, English and Chinese. Over 5,000 people have visited our website.

Save the Patient is a non-profit, exempt 501c(3) organization dedicated to the support and education of individuals on health care matters. We need your support to underwrite our programs and educational efforts. Make a donation by visiting our website at savethepatient.org or writing us at Save the Patient, 260 E. Chestnut St. #1712, Chicago, IL 60611 or call 312-440-0630. Contributions to Save the Patient are eligible for federal income tax deduction.

Health Safety Tips

The relationship between the patient and the health care provider is an important one that must allow for mutual respect and maximum communication. It is important for patients to understand their rights and speak out to ensure that they are provided with the proper medical care.

Remember it is your RIGHT