Former Gov. Mark Warner said sharing medical records among providers will improve care and reduce costs.

By Sarah Bruyn Jones
With nearly $20 billion in federal funds about to hit the world of health care information technology, Virginia’s health sector and political leadership are trying to prepare to capture their share of the money.

The money is part of the federal stimulus bill signed by President Obama in February and is intended as a financial incentive to get the health care industry to embrace using electronic medical records. Still, the timeline and details of how the money will be distributed have not been finalized.

“This represents a big leap forward for health technology, so we are excited about it,” said Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marilyn Tavenner. “We just want to be positioned to take maximum advantage of it.”

Some monies will likely go directly to the states to be distributed, while other funds will be allocated through a competitive grant process.

Tavenner said a significant amount of money coming to Virginia could boost job growth for information technology specialists as more health providers implement electronic record-keeping systems.

To help ready Virginia for coming funding, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner has arranged for a health IT summit Monday in Richmond. The national coordinator for health information technology, recently appointed by Obama, will be at the summit.

“This is going to be one of the areas that is going to drive health care reform,” Warner said.

The state will form an advisory group to help Virginia providers access the federal money and implement effective electronic medical record systems.

Between 15 and 20 people will be named to the group, including four people already named to the newly created Health Information Technology Standards Advisory Committee, which was established by the 2009 General Assembly, Tavenner said.

Warner said establishing electronic medical records in hospitals, nursing homes and physicians’ offices throughout the state will improve care and reduce costs.

“There is no reason why health care can’t get some of the efficiencies that every other field has,” he said, pointing to manufacturing and telecommunications as examples.

While the guidelines for exactly how the money will be distributed are still being worked out, Warner said he believes that cooperation between different health care providers will be the key to attracting government dollars. That includes requirements that different hospital systems and physicians’ offices be able to share information.

Warner, who has a background in telecommunications, said the system should be similar to the way cellphone companies operate: There are different providers, but a call from a Verizon phone can be received by a Sprint phone. Financial incentives will be needed to push a working system into operation, he said.

Questions remain about the security of such a system. And some medical providers don’t want to share all their data with another business due to competition in the industry.

Carilion Clinic’s chief information officer, Daniel Barchi, said it is important for system administrators to talk to each other as electronic records become the standard. Carilion began rolling out its new multi-million-dollar record system last year and has been in discussions with some other hospital systems in the state to share experiences, he said.

“The more that health IT leaders get together, the better off we are going to be,” Barchi said.

He is one of the four people already appointed to the advisory committee.

“By cooperating and choosing a common data record, there is a way we can share — with patient permission — information across all these health systems,” Barchi said. “And I think the government is doing an admirable job of putting incentives out there for the providers to make their systems more interoperable.”

The state-led efforts also focus on helping providers who don’t already have electronic medical records systems establish one. That’s because much of the federal funding will be tied to providers who already have an electronic record in use.

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