Senate and House clash over electronic record privacy

This HITECH Act -- and $20 billion down-payment – is a grand first act toward establishing pervasive electronic health records throughout the U.S. Salting the mine with incentives for Medicare and Medicaid patients surely gets providers using HIT and building an EHR infrastructure (along with streamlining care for seniors and uninsured.)

But, will that Medicare/Medicaid dose be enough to change the system for everyone else, most especially those in their teens, 20’s and 30’s who will benefit most from wellness, preventive care, and complete medical records over their lifetimes? How will such efforts expand beyond rural areas and selected populations? Are we ready to start creating portable records for uninsured children, or are we going to let them slip through the cracks in our imperfect information environment? The goal of comprehensive care first requires comprehensive records.

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