Guide helps form electronic health system

WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a guide Wednesday to build an improved health information system that could revamp healthcare.

The report provides "a framework, not a full-blown strategic plan," to develop safeguarded electronic health records that would be more easily accessible to patients and healthcare providers nationwide, said Dr. David Brailer, the national coordinator for health information technology, at an HHS summit on the topic.

The recommendations aim to bring EHRs directly into clinical practice, develop a reliable infrastructure between clinicians and improve public health monitoring.

The system has the potential to cut health spending by nearly $140 billion a year by improving treatment decisions and reducing medical errors due to inadequate health records, the HHS reported.

Only 13 percent of U.S. hospitals used electronic health records in 2002, and implementation of a more modernized system is being hampered by sheer size, a lack of federal support and skepticism among health officials about its potential return on investment, the HHS said.

"Over the next few days, we'll decide if this is a decade that ends in results," Brailer said, "with dialogue turning into action."