Maryland is poised to jump ahead of the rest of the nation in health information technology on Tuesday when Gov. Martin O'Malley signs a bill intended to coax doctors into using electronic medical records.
The computerized files are seen as the foundation of a national health information network that proponents say will improve care, advance medical knowledge and save the country tens of billions of dollars annually. But with the startup costs to individual doctors in the tens of thousands of dollars, many smaller practices have been slow to move from clipboard to computer screen.
With today's bill signing, Maryland will become the first state requiring private insurance companies to offer doctors financial incentives to adopt the technology, state officials say. Doctors who do not bring an electronic medical records system on line by 2015 could face penalties.
"This is where government and private health care providers can come together to really improve not only the quality of care but also, hopefully, create some costs savings as well," O'Malley said. "Health IT is the future of health care in our country, and we want Maryland to lead the way."
The bill also requires the state to develop a health information exchange, a computer network that would link all of Maryland's physicians, hospitals, medical laboratories and pharmacies. It could be linked in turn with those of other states to create the national network envisioned by President George W. Bush and affirmed by President Barack Obama. O'Malley calls it "creating one common gauge of railroad track."
Obama, who has promised to spend $50 billion on the effort over the next five years, set aside $17.2 billion in the economic stimulus package to encourage the adoption of electronic medical records - sophisticated computer programs that record a patient's history, incorporate the latest medical research and propose appropriate treatments.
Privacy advocates warn that the features that make the computerized patient files attractive to health care providers - the wealth of personal information, and the ease with which it may be accessed and shared - also make them ripe for potential exploitation by employers, insurers and others. State and federal officials acknowledge such concerns and say safeguards will be incorporated into the new systems.
