In a recent interview with Medgadget, Former National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal says he believes the "rapid" adoption of electronic health records today is due not only to efforts on the part of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, but also the Affordable Care Act. Still, Blumenthal says, the biggest obstacles in the way of truly successful health information exchange aren't technical, but rather are "social, political, economic and cultural."
"We need a really compelling case for organizations that have successful systems to share with others and deal with the logistical annoyances of making that possible," Blumenthal tells Medgadget. "Right now, I don't think that situation exists. Until it does, we can throw at this all the technical solutions we want and it will not have much effect." Interview