Although per capita healthcare spending in the U.S. is 2 ½ times more than the median spending of other industrialized countries, health systems abroad are four to 13 years ahead of the U.S. in using health information technology to control costs, according to a study published in Health Affairs. (View abstract.) Germany launched its national health IT network in 1993 and expects to complete it by 2006, Canada says it will have electronic health records for half its population by 2009, the UK has the most comprehensive system, and Norway and Australia have a six-year jump on the U.S. in developing health IT systems. Few question that health IT will lead to cost savings; estimates are that an electronic health record would save $371 billion in U.S. hospitals alone over the next 15 years. The study examines how various countries have overcome some of the health IT obstacles plaguing the U.S. and urges policy makers to look at lessons learned abroad to shorten health IT implementation time here. For example, health IT initiatives abroad are usually subsidized by public funds so government has a say in how systems interconnect. Germany has built its health IT network on smart-card technology, which allows healthcare workers access a centralized patient database storing complete medical histories. And other countries have spent considerable time and effort educating physicians on how to transition to an electronic system.
