Government
Offset health IT costs with higher payments, ACP says
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 9, 2008
Physicians who adopt health information technology should receive higher payments to offset the cost, said the American College of Physicians in a May 16 position paper, "E-Health And Its Impact On Medical Practice."
"Widespread adoption and use of health information technology can positively affect access, care coordination, patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes," said Joel S. Levine, MD, chair of the ACP Board of Regents. "Payment policy reforms, however, are necessary to appropriately compensate physicians for their investment in and implementation of e-health services."
The paper recommends that e-Health activities address the needs of all patients without disenfranchising financially disadvantaged people or those with low literacy or low computer literacy. It has recommendations on telehealth and e-visits, health Web sites and personal health records.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/06/09/gvbf0609.htm.
