Va Gets Kudos On

[Berta]

Source VA Media Press Release

"Medical Journal Praises VA Electronic Health Record

VA Continues to Lead Health Care Industry

WASHINGTON (April 6, 2009) - A recent study in the prestigious New

England Journal of Medicine singles out the Department of Veterans

Affairs (VA) for its successful implementation of a comprehensive system

of electronic health records.

The study's authors, led by Dr. Ashish K. Jha of Harvard University,

noted that VA's use of electronic health records has significantly

enhanced the quality of patient care. They also found that only 1.5

percent of U.S. hospitals have comprehensive electronic health records;

adding VA hospitals to the analyses doubled that number.

"VA hospitals have used electronic health records for more than a decade

with dramatic associated improvements in clinical quality," the study's

authors wrote.

VA clinicians began using computerized patient records in the mid-1990s

for everything from recording examinations by doctors to displaying

results of lab tests and x-rays. Patient records are available 100

percent of the time to VA health care workers, compared to 60 percent

when VA relied on paper records.

Dr. Michael J. Kussman, VA's under secretary for health, said VA has

"one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated electronic systems" for

patient records in the nation.

"VA's electronic health record system has largely eliminated errors

stemming from lost or incomplete medical records, making us one of the

safest systems in the health care industry," Kussman said.

The authors of the NEJM article are the latest to praise VA for its

technology and commitment to patient safety. In 2006, VA received the

prestigious "Innovations in American Government" Award from Harvard's

Kennedy School of Government for its advanced electronic health records

and performance measurement system."

[SLEDGE]

I have located the article on the net and it does not agree with the political junk.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMsa0900592v1

In saying this I ask that the reader identify what is actually stated and what IS NOT.

Embellishment is an art form that congress has long perfected.

While the article does 'seem to' favorably mention the VHA electronic records keeping system, it is simply eluding to the fact that the system does exist within the VHA and not in very many other facilities or institutions.

I submit, having electronic records available to the healthcare provider does not improve the quality of the healthcare.

Improving or sustaining a level of expertise is strictly a function of the people involved, not their method of keeping records.

The lack of substantial electronic record keeping in the private sector tells me that the computerized systems do not improve patient care or every facility would be using electronic means as their primary means of keeping track of everything.

In actual practice, most private sector facilities do use some form of computerized records along with hard paper copies and digitized x-rays.

What the government sponsored article is bitchen about is the lack of a centralized type of system where everybody has the same access to all of the records.

The VHA system does not accomplish this either or I would not be pissed off enough to comment.

sledge

[Stretch]

Dr. Kussman, just resigned his position.

[purple]

Damn, I didn't even get a chance to e-mail him yet... B)