It has been an exciting week in healthcare. First, there was Lester Crawford's mysterious resignation from his position as FDA chairman. Then came the little story about Mr. Frist and his stake in HCA. As if those two weren't enough, we were then treated to a major health policy story, as bipartisan support grew for a temporary expansion of Medicaid for victims of Hurricane Katrina, a development which renewed the old debate over safety nets and entitlements. In between all that, we had a minor outbreak of H5N1, a major acquisition of a health IT company (IDX by GE Healthcare) and a healthy little IPO by WebMD.
One story we haven't heard much about this week: electronic medical records. With the budget hard hit by Katrina spending and support waning for cuts to Medicaid and other programs, it is beginning to look like it may be very difficult for Congress to find any federal money left over for health IT. Congress needs to find the will to find the money. Lets hope they do. - Matthew