Executive Summary
The U.S. government introduced great transformations in the health care sector during the last decade. This health policy position paper highlights one of the innovative aspects of the health delivery system, examining the issue of extensive introduction of medical health records to the current practice. Determining the relevant problem, the proposal explores two different types of medical data systems dealing with public and private information. The paper gives the background of the challenge, focusing on aims, sources, and forms of collecting and keeping personal medical information. Analyzing the problem of enhancing information technologies in the U.S. medical practice, the position paper suggests several options and discusses their potential benefits and drawbacks. The extensive introduction of electronic medical records needs thorough consideration. Therefore, social propaganda and privacy policies have been chosen as the most effective steps to be implemented by the U.S. government. Each political decision requires evaluating financial factors stimulating the policy reforms. This proposal will highlight the macroeconomic aspect of the health delivery issue under consideration. Realizing the urgent necessity of the problem, the U.S. authorities have developed the basic legislation supporting the creation of digital storage for personal health information in the United States. Examining the issue, the health policy position paper explores the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HIPAA) passed in 2009. The paper studies its key guarantees, such as the right to obtain the data about the use of patients’ personal health data, and the obligation to inform clients about the potential or real leakage of these health details. Moreover, major stakeholders of the electronic medical records policy have been distinguished in the paper. These are patients, doctors, clinics, and providers of IT medical databases. The paper mentions key advantages obtained by these parties. Finally, the essay evaluates the outcome of the suggested policy and dream about the future perspectives of implementing IT technologies in health care delivery.
The Problem
The chief concern deals with the current state of affairs in the health care delivery system. This policy proposal addresses the issue of extensive introduction of electronic medical records that would contribute to the improvement in the healthcare field. The statement is that the government should pay more attention to the legislation and regulation of the process of implementing information technologies in the health care sector instead of leaving this issue for business and private clinics to solve.
Background Information
For several decades, the U.S. healthcare system has been experiencing great transformations, touching its numerous aspects. The issue of collecting and keeping patients’ confidential information is one of the burning challenges nowadays. Launching digital databases is the subject for brisk debates among politics, experts, journalists, and ordinary American citizens. David Cutler notes, “Over the long term, the growth rate of medical costs is driven predominantly by changes in the technological capacity of medicine”. The extensive implementation of digital records would save approximately $78 billion annually. Taking into account the aforementioned benefit of introducing innovative technologies into practice, there is a strong necessity to apply them in the field of the U.S. healthcare system.
Different Types of Medical Data Systems
Medical data systems can be used for public and private purposes, determining the sources of collecting information and goals of its implementation.
There are several sources of acquiring public health information, such as “federally funded national surveys, vital statistics, public and private administrative and claim data, regulatory data, and medical records data”. Healthcare institutions provide the official information obtained from the surveys and official reports on the subject. Private information may be obtained from ordinary citizens personally for their individual needs. The data of this kind urgently demand absolute guarantees of their privacy.
Public health programs involve information received from two types of data systems. The data systems of the first type deal with public