“Nearly two years after the Obama administration announced plans to spend $40 billion to help doctors and hospitals adopt electronic medical records, government officials are still grappling with how best to regulate these systems to assure patient safety. And a meeting this week made it clear firm rules are still many months away.
Although federal officials have acknowledged that electronic medical record systems can create new safety concerns, the administration appears content to let the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which it has contracted to study the topic, chart a path through the bureaucratic confusion “on what the federal agencies should do to maximize the safety of health information technology.” The nonprofit institute is part of the National Academies and conducts research on health topics.”
Article
Emma Schwartz, The Center for Public Integrity, 17 December 2010
