A Global Comparison of Health Care Information Technology - Essay Example

A Global Comparison of Health Care Information Technology Evolution of Health (Care) Information Technology (HIT) is a breakthrough in today’s modern world in providing high quality care that is readily accessible for the people without the long waiting period. HIT consists enormously diverse set of technologies for transmitting and managing health information for use by consumers, providers, payers, insurers, and all the other groups with an interest in health and health care (Blumenthal and Glaser 2527).

Health outcomes with the utilization of HIT throughout the globe vary from country to country depending on the country’s economic, demographic, social and cultural factors. The use of HIT (like Electronic Medical Record or EMR and Telemedicine) and implementation of systems to enable electronic prescribing can improve the quality of patient care, reduce medical errors, increase efficiency, reduce administrative costs, achieve substantial cost savings, and highlights accessibility of health care to people.

The United States lags seriously in the implementation of HIT systems compared with countries having well-performing health care systems. The Commonwealth Fund Commission project (2006) created a scorecard to assess health care performance using long, healthy, and productive lives; quality; access; efficiency; equity; and capacity to innovate and improve, as indicators and the U.S. scored 28% only while Netherlands is 98% and Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom scored 79% to 92% (Schoen et al 555-71).

One key underlying factor is the structure, funding and organizational features of the Health Care Systems between U.S. and E.U. The public nature of most European Health Care Systems address different business approaches and economical balances than the models developed in the U.S. That is why care must be taken when considering the viability and appropriateness of telemedicine American business models working in the European context (TELEPLANS). Health care in the U.S. has many positive features compared with other countries, however, it is considerably inconsistent and inefficient.

Health care quality and access vary widely both geographically among populations, some services are overutilized, and costs are far in excess of those in other countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 1). The success in the deployment of health care IT in other countries is the result of the following strategies that they implemented: (1) In the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, adopted is a uniform billing system and electronic processing of claims that improves efficiency and reduces administrative expenses. (2) Denmark uses an electronic billing system that allows automating payment and health insurance transactions without reliance on paper processing.

Automated point-of-care are made possible by using smart card technology that automatically verifies the individual’s coverage status, benefits, and required copayments and co-insurance, and bill the appropriate payer for care rendered and the individual for their required cost sharing on the debit basis. (3) Netherlands and Denmark had an interoperable health information infrastructure that incorporates decision-support tools that enables physicians to obtain instantaneous information at the point of medical decision making and enhances electronic communications among physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, diagnostic testing laboratories, and patients (Schoen et al 555-71). (4) The United Kingdom and Canada intend sufficient funds in research and medical technology so as not to rely on outdated technologies and medical equipment that may delay patient’s access to advance treatment. (5) Australia and the United Kingdom perform evidence-based research and evaluations of new drugs and technology the goals of which are to identify the most effective ways to organize, manage, finance, and deliver high quality care, reduce medical errors, and improve patient safety.

In conclusion, many countries have better functioning with lower cost health care systems that outperformed the United States. An efficiently functioning health care system can be achieved through lowering administrative costs by standardizing coverage and insurance transactions, providing coverage through publicly funded programs rather than private insurance, and deploying health care IT so that health providers, insurers, pharmacies, and other concerned entities can be easily accessible to individuals.

Works Cited:Blumenthal, David and Glaser, John P. “Health Policy Report”. Information Technology Comes to Medicine. The New England Journal of Medicine. p. 2527. Web accessed on July 4, 2009 at Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. 2006. Why Not the Best? Results from a national scorecard on U.S. health system performance. Web page accessed on July 2, 2009 at Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. “Joint OECD-Eurostat-WHO health accounts data-collection initiative launched”.

OECD Health Update. 2006. p 1. Web page accessed on July 3, 2009 at Schoen, C. et al. On the front lines of care: primary care doctor’s office systems, experiences and views in seven countries. Health Aff (Millwood). PMID: 17102164. 2006;555-71.TELEPLANS. (Undated). “Telemedicine for Citizens”. WP4 National Policies and Strategies. Web accessed on July 4, 2009 at