Force Hospitals To Take IT Medicine, Advocacy Group Says

The Midwest Business Group on Health is urging companies to steer employees to health-care firms that use IT to help reduce errors and improve patient care.
A coalition of private and public employers in 11 states is calling for companies to pressure hospitals to control escalating health-care costs by cutting errors and improving patient care. Business owners, according to the Midwest Business Group on Health, should steer employees to health-care firms that use IT such as drug-prescription systems, which can help eliminate handwriting errors and flag bad drug interactions. A new survey by the group indicates that these problems cost $300 billion annually. "We're urging our members to work with their health plans to use technology that improves patient care," says Jim Mortimer, president of the group.

California hospital chain St. Joseph Health Systems is improving its clinical systems and deploying an electronic order system for supplies. "Juggling all of this is a challenge," says Larry Stofko, VP of IT strategy and architecture at the Orange, Calif., firm. But he's not optimistic that grassroots pressure alone will change matters: "In health care, if it's not legislated or mandated, it's often procrastinated."


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