Health Care System in US Needs a Change

by Medindia Content Team on March 13, 2006 at 6:05 PM

Innovation is stimulated only when there is an appropriate climate where new ideas can thrive. But it is very difficult to define an ideal climate. There are a variety of social problems. To solve these one has to make use of diverse skills and resources. Collaboration is an essential element that holds everything together. Innovation is only useful when there is application for the resulting discovery. Collaboration should be among technology, skill and beneficiary. If one also fails to collaborate the result will not be achieved.

A diverse group of interested parties will raise an interesting challenge. An effective way to communicate among them would be in terms of open business standards not controlled by any one participant. An area ripe for innovation is that of the US healthcare system.

At present it resembles thousands of little islands of information. Very few of them are connected or consistent. This is mainly due to the competing vendors. Their main interest is to provide the buyers with the latest technologies thereby they become ubiquitous and then reap the benefits.

The healthcare workers have to unite to develop a national health information technology infrastructure. All parties have to come together to surmount many obstacles such as deciding on standards to guaranteeing privacy and accessibility of patient data. The information should be accessible when somebody needs it, wherever they may be, or it is not worth the effort.

Medical records vary from each health care person to another. The US Department of Health and Human Services has issued a challenge to the industry that they should agree on standards and figure out a way to make electronic health records a reality. Eight of the largest technology companies have agreed to embrace open technology standards as the basis for creating a national healthcare network. They have already planned to build in their infrastructure.

The greatest reason behind achieving complete healthcare information in the electronic system is the substantial progress in innovative medical treatment, such as predictive and more targeted treatment.