ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Part 9 of a continuing series. Collecting and reporting healthcare performance measures via computerized records allows providers to monitor system quality, thereby developing a level of accountability and ultimately reducing errors and harm to patients, experts told United Press International.
That means a drop in the estimated 100,000 preventable medical errors occurring each year in the United States, as more and more doctors and hospitals adopt health IT, according to Philip Dunn, vice president of communications and public affairs of the National Quality Forum, a private, non-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a nationwide strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting.
"Health IT is a not a panacea, but it provides for easier collection of information, and the better collection of better data will bring about many things to reduce medical errors," Dunn said. "Medicine is an information-intense industry, and doctors and nurses need good information to make good decisions -- and health IT will (provide) better information to the point of care."
Despite progress in adopting health IT, there remains anxiety about how computerized medical records and data collection will affect both the healthcare system and individual practices.
"This is uncharted territory," said Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. "There is an anxiety of the unknown."
Kennedy has sponsored one the seven health IT bills currently pending in Congress.
Part of that unknown territory is how the collected data will be used. For example, doctors worry they might lose some of their autonomy in selecting treatment options and in how they choose to conduct their practices.
Advances in quality measurement, health-information systems and understanding how to promulgate changes in clinical practice present unprecedented opportunities for improvement, according to the National Quality Forum's research. The issue is not only computerizing data, but also changing the way the healthcare industry functions.
"The first aspect of a safer system is the need for a culture of safety and the end of a culture of blame that results in a lack of reporting," Dunn said. "For example, in aviation, anyone from a member of the ground crew to the pilot to the air traffic controller can call off a takeoff for any reason. It's much less common for a nurse or someone else to stop a doctor from some action -- this is largely based on tradition -- that's the way it's always been done."
The culture of safety involves many things. For example, the National Quality Forum endorses the 2003 Safe Practice for Better Healthcare initiative to improve patient safety. It comprises 30 safety measures, such as consistent hand-washing, or placing all patients in general intensive-care units under physicians with specific training and certification in critical-care medicine.
"There is a clear movement for a safer system," Dunn said. "The end of culture of blame ends the fear of reporting. We need to move into a system that we can we learn from mistakes."
A statement by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America said the organization promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, and it safeguards victims' rights and strengthens the civil justice system through education and disclosure of information critical to public health and safety.
Such reassurances have not lessened the fear of litigation, however, and that fear can lead to mistakes being repeated and procedures not changing.
"There's very little question that the tort system as currently organized doesn't really help matters," Dunn said. "Whether it hurts is open to debate. The tort system is designed for business disputes and has little to do with healthcare. Most malpractice (cases have) nothing to do medical errors -- they're system errors -- or maybe it wasn't an error, just a bad outcome."
Health IT could lead to fewer preventable errors, resulting in better care, and in turn resulting in fewer lawsuits and lower malpractice insurance costs.
"I know of at least two institutions on the East Coast (that) have significantly reduced their malpractice insurance premiums because of (fewer) errors as a result of instituting health IT," said the head of a non-profit healthcare organization, who asked not to be named.
Dunn noted that large healthcare purchasers, such as General Motors and Ford -- which have complained about the rising cost of healthcare -- are supporting health IT because a system suffering fewer mistakes is not only better for patients -- it is cheaper.
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Alex Cukan covers health matters for UPI. E-mail: [email protected]
