Our Nation's Health Depends On IT

摘要

About 100 people in the United States die each day because the current paper-based healthcare system introduces errors (e.g., indecipherable handwriting) or delays treatment (how long will it take those X-rays to get here?) or limits what a doctor or nurse can know about a patient at the time critical treatment must be given (allergies?). Another symptom of this ailing and archaic system is the extensive financial hemorrhaging taking place in hospitals, doctors' offices, outpatient clinics, and patients' homes. If the U.S. health-care community could create a secure network that would make health records and prescription orders available online, how much money could this country save every single day? A) $400 million B) $4 billion C) $25 million D) less than zero: The paper-based system is more cost-efficient.