In 2004, following Bush’s State of the Union Address asking for the country to move to computerized health records, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a doubling of government funding for demonstration projects. The total funds available is $100 million.

Is this anywhere near enough? Britain’s National Health Service anticipates spending up to £20 billion (equivalent to $40 billion USD) for IT services over the period to 2014 (this is the high estimate, the low estimate is £12.4 billion, or $25 billion USD). This is 400 times more than our investment in EHR IT at this time.

In his 2004 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush said: “By computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs, and improve care.” Details were announced on April 26, 2004, in “The President’s Health Information Technology Plan.” Click for details or the summary.

In the 2005 State of the Union, He asked only for “improved information technology to prevent medical error and needless costs”

He repeated this in the address of 2006: “We will make wider use of electronic records and other health information technology, to help control costs and reduce dangerous medical errors.”

In the State of the Union 2007 address: “We need to reduce costs and medical errors with better information technology.”

But, in the State of the Union 2008: There was no mention of electronic health records.

Please click the PCArchiver link in the right column for details of the easiest and least expensive medical documentation management solution available.