A substantial part of reducing waste in healthcare can be accomplished through widespread institution of electronic health records (EHRs). Too often, tests and procedures are repeated on patients because the providers do not have records of what care the patient has already had. This kind of unnecessary care makes up more than $500 billion every year that, with EHRs, could be cut out of healthcare spending. EHRs are also useful in tracking both long- and short-term care schedules, keeping providers and patients aware of when procedures like mammograms, colonoscopies, and diabetes-related tests need to be done.

Already, legislation from the past several years has been working to establish widespread EHR usage. The HITECH Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, designated nearly $20 billion to be used for grants, loans, and payment incentives for implementing EHRs. With the HITECH Act, physicians and hospitals that are using or begin to use a certified EHR within the next several years are eligible to receive as much as $44,000 in incentives. The grant and loan money is being used to help providers begin to use EHRs, particularly in underserved and underprivileged areas.

The healthcare legislation signed by President Obama contains very little language regarding EHRs. This is not due to a lack of support for the records, but instead probably because they were covered through the HITECH Act. Though they were left out of this most recent bill, there is no lack of support for increased usage of EHRs.

Just as they are a nationwide priority, electronic health records are important here at Quality Quest as well. The Patient Registry team focused on finding registries that would allow physicians and clinics to record and track patients diagnosed with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, including recording test results and next testing date. Quest has also been named a Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center, meaning that we are assisting small practices in finding the best EHR software for their site and helping them start to use these systems.