Leavitt: Katrina shows need for EMRs

Advocates of electronic medical records continued to point at the chaos in New Orleans as evidence of how important it is for hospitals to make the transition to digital records. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told an audience in Washington, DC, that EMR technology would have avoided many of the problems now being experienced by the healthcare system on the Gulf Coast. "If there was ever a case for (electronic health records), this disaster underscores the need," Leavitt said.

- see this story from Government Health IT

PLUS: Officials at Both University and Charity Hospitals indicate their facilities have been for all intents and purposes completely destroyed. Initial reports indicate that Charity Hospital may have suffered significant data loss when its computer system was destroyed, and it appears backups were destroyed as well. Story

ALSO: This morning, HHS said it has set up an informational website for healthcare IT professionals who would like to assist in the disaster relief effort. Website

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