In an opinion piece published in healthsystemCIO.com, founder/editor Anthony Guerra brings up several interesting points about health IT safety and its role within the national push for EHR adoption. He believes that patient data safety issues should be at the forefront of this initiative, but unfortunately, he does not believe these concerns are being given their proper due.
He even goes so far as saying that the way legislation is being implemented is "nothing short of irresponsible."
Guerra does a nice job illustrating why he holds these beliefs. He states, "Rather than commissioning studies on EHR safety before it essentially made them a federal requirement, Congress took the word of powerful HIT lobbying organizations and stuffed the politically palatable HITECH provision into the bloated American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending frenzy."
Additionally, he believes that the ONC has not taken enough strides to produce empirical evidence about HIT safety, and by the time the studies it has commissioned are completed, the first deadlines for meaningful use pass by.
Clck here to read his entire article.