all David Blumenthal stories

U.S. hospitals slow to adopt electronic health records, citing cost

50443248 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:00:29 -0400

There is broad consensus that electronic health records (EHR) have the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care providers. Yet, to date, there has been no reliable estimate of the prevalence of EHR use among U.S. hospitals.

Blumenthal named national coordinator for health information technology

50443248 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:24:31 -0400

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today (March 20) the selection of David Blumenthal as the Obama administration’s choice for national coordinator for health information technology.

U.S. lagging in adoption of electronic health records

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 10:43:04 -0400

With fewer than one in 10 doctors making full use of electronic health records and as few as 5 percent of hospitals using one form of them, the U.S. health care industry is way behind in adopting new systems that can improve patient care and reduce medical mistakes, according to a new report co-authored by Harvard researchers.

"We are pitifully behind where we should be. We must find ways to get more physicians to embrace this technology if we are to make major strides in improving health care quality," said study co-author David Blumenthal, the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine, professor of health care policy, and director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Institute for Health Policy.

Health care institutions have long adopted computerized records for financial and administrative systems, but have been slower to adopt electronic health records for the clinical side of their operations even though those systems have the potential to reduce medication mistakes, unnecessary tests, and inappropriate care; to cut costs; and to improve patient monitoring.

President George W. Bush has called on U.S. health care institutions to adopt electronic systems for a majority of patients by 2014 as a way to make health care delivery more efficient and more effective.

The report, "Health Information Technology in the United States: The Information Base for Progress," was drafted by a team of researchers from Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard School of Public Health, and George Washington University. It was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the federal government's National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Information Age will change doctors' role in healing

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:25:14 -0400

Even as the Internet allows patients access to information previously only available through their doctors, patients still trust the information they get from their doctors more than they do from Web sites, current surveys suggest. Because of this, doctors may fill the role of advisers or consultants, helping patients not only sort through the information that is available, but make rational decisions based on that information. Writing in the Milbank Quarterly, Professor of Medicine David Blumenthal explains that with an increasing number of patients having access to an increasing amount of health information through the Internet, doctors are losing their place in society as the exclusive source of medical knowledge. This trend has the potential, at a minimum, to greatly reduce the current imbalance in competence between doctors and laypersons, possibly resulting in a de-professionalization of medicine. "Supported by humanity's need for a healing class and by physicians' genuine technical competence, the [medical] profession will survive," says Blumenthal, of Massachusetts General Hospital. "However, the work it does will likely change somewhat, as will its role in society and the relationships between doctors and patients."

One-tenth of medical residents feel unprepared

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:13:33 -0400

Findings from a study suggest that gaps exist in the preparedness of physicians to manage the full range of patients, procedures and problems they may encounter. A surprising one in 10 of medical residents said they felt unprepared to deal with such tasks as the treatment of HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, nursing home patients, management of chronic pain, counseling patients about domestic violence as well as about depression, and certain procedures, such as spinal or cancer-related surgery. "This survey tells us that residency programs may not be changing quickly enough to keep up with the reality of medical practice today. We may be seeing a residency-practice mismatch," said David Blumenthal, lead study author, director of the Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Teaching hospitals and medical schools need to provide residents with quality training that reflects the diversity of the patients they will one day treat." The study was conducted with support from the Commonwealth Fund Task Force on Academic Health Centers.