“A prerequisite to any Meaningful Use discussion is the need to keep in mind that the current HIT effort, and appropriation of funds, originated from a legislative act whose primary goals were to reduce health care costs and create jobs in a faltering economy. The secondary goals of increasing quality of care and reducing disparities are assumed to be supportive of the primary goals.
One could easily argue that patient engagement in the health care process can have cost lowering effects on the entire system. Patients are by far the least costly resources in the continuum of care and the more tasks we can delegate down to these practically free resources, the lower the cost of care will become. Coupled with the widespread enthusiasm for patient participation as exhibited by numerous advocacy groups as well as representatives of the medical profession, engaging patients seems to be a win-win proposition.
Article
Margalit Gur-Arie, On Healthcare Technology,21 April 2010
