Bush's healthcare data czar preps plans

WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- The government's medical information czar is preparing to reveal plans for switching the nation from paper to electronic records, USA Today reported Tuesday.

David Brailer was appointed by President George W. Bush last May to the new post of national coordinator of health information technology. His mission is to ensure that within 10 years all U.S. citizens will have an electronic medical record instead of traditional paper records.

Brailer's scheduled Wednesday presentation comes amid various Congressional initiatives to encourage medicine to make the switch from paper to computerized record keeping.

USA Today is the challenge is huge: Healthcare is a $1.6 trillion industry of 700,000 physicians and 5,700 hospitals; existing electronic data systems do not communicate with each other; common standards are non-existent; and privacy remains a worry.

Still, the prospects of success are tantalizing. John Chambers, the chief executive of Internet titan Cisco Systems, told the newspaper electronic record-keeping technology could cut healthcare costs by at least 25 percent -- and improve care.