A government official, speaking at a public briefing in Washington D.C. last week, said there were still substantial barriers to the uptake of new information technology systems in the U.S. health insurance system, according to Modern Health care.
David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Department of Health and Human Services, said a lack of funding, implementation problems, and a host of privacy concerns from the general public were hindering the swift adoption of digital health records and other technological advances in the American health care system.
“American people need to be convinced that the information exchanged will be private,” says Bluementhal, according to the news outlet.
Modern Healthcare also notes a number of other countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and New Zealand, have successfully implemented many health IT systems, and that representatives from those nations gave their perspectives at the event.
While some skepticism about the privacy of medical records is a healthy concern, experts say, digitizing such information could lead to significantly reduced health insurance costs and fewer mistakes in patient care.
