Virginia leads the way in funding electronic medical records
Electronic medical records have tremendous potential to save time and trim costs from our health care system. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine recognizes this potential, and he is leading his state's participation in a federal project that allows Virginia to give financial incentives to doctors who use electronic medical record technology and report back about the results.
The cost benefits of the program are expected to be great, as the initial start up cost -- incentives for physicians in the form of Medicare waivers -- is lower than the projected savings. Cutting out the paperwork and the technology involved with copying, collating, and moving that paperwork is projected to cut costs drastically.
This is an important step to move our health care system into the future. As Governor Kaine said,
"Building and improving the health information technology infrastructure in our commonwealth and in our country is critical to providing quality health care moving forward," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said during a news conference.
But of course this technology is only useful if those electronic records can be quickly and easily accessed through high speed Internet. Medical records contain large amounts of data, so access to the latest Internet connections is essential for electronic records to make a real impact.
Therefore, in addition to taking part in this federal electronic medical records project, Virginia is also working towards achieving universal high speed Internet access. The state has already made some movement in this direction. Driven by Governor Kaine's Broadband Task Force, the state has promoted initiatives to build fiber optic networks, promote telework and determine current statewide high speed Internet coverage.
But it will take even stronger efforts for Virginia to expand high speed Internet to all residents and allow doctors to fully take advantage of electronic health records.
Former Gov. Warner leads Virginia high speed internet panel (Speed Matters)
Virginia takes the initiative (Speed Matters)
Virginia struggles to find out who's connected (Speed Matters)
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