Hospitals Would Benefit from Govt Grants to Make the Transition to EHRs

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Aug

2009


	Sequel Systems

Hospitals Would Benefit from Govt Grants to Make the Transition to EHRs

Melville, NY (August 25, 2009) — Irfan Iqbal, Director of Medical Informatics, Sequel Systems, says the U.S. government’s plan to provide grant money to hospitals in making the transition from paper-based to electronic health records (EHRs) would give the hospitals the resources it needs to enter the digital age and create much-needed jobs.

On August 20, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius introduced a plan to provide approximately $1.2 billion in grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to help hospitals transition to the use of EMRs. Of that amount, $589 million would go to establish centers to help hospitals and clinics with the technical aspects of how to choose a system for electronic health records, and the other $564 million would give hospitals the capability to share patient information with one another. The grants would be available on October 1.

Mr. Iqbal agreed with President Barack Obama that using electronic records will create more jobs in the health information technology sector. In addition, according to a RAND study, EHRs will save the national healthcare system $77 billion annually. This will eradicate the estimated $17-29 billion in costs as a result of medical errors.

“EHRs will improve patient safety reporting and data analysis and prevent such errors by providing built-in safety management protocols and risk-assessment tools including early warnings and alerts,” Mr. Iqbal said. “In addition, they will also prevent duplicate tests by reminding physicians about preventive services.”

For more information, contact Sequel Systems, Inc. at 631.694.3600 or 800.965.2728.