[telemedicine] Government Employee Health Plan Promotes IT Adoption

[Medical Informatics News]

*The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will offer incentives to healthcare providers in the Federal Employee Health Benefit (FEHB) plan to help promote adoption of interoperable health IT. The plan is one way the government can use its power to promote health IT interoperabilityIn testifying before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization about the hurdles the federal government must overcome in convincing the private sector to standardize, OPM Director Linda Springer and other managers of the 8 million-member FEHB plan told lawmakers that they can use their purchasing influence to move the nation’s health care providers toward adoption of standardized electronic records and interoperable IT platforms. Getting healthcare providers to make the financial investment in IT is a huge hurdle, but a necessary one. Physicians who can’t access up-to-date or complete patient information are at a loss and can order costly diagnostic testing which has already been completed or* worse--prescribe the wrong medication, which could result in patient injuries and accidental deaths. *ReadPermalink*|*Email this*|*Linking*Blogs*|*Comments









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