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The Business of Health Care Report
On today's show, I'll discuss how
information technology is taking health care to a new level by providing physicians,
hospitals and patients with better, and much quicker, access to information. In many areas, the old-fashioned
way is the best way. The best fly-fishing lures are still made painstakingly by hand.
The best ice cream is homemade. But, when it comes to health care,
new is almost always better. Especially when it comes to the ability to share information
- from physician to physician, physician to patient or from patient to physician. An annual survey conducted by the
American Hospital Association of hundreds of U.S. hospitals and health care systems is
designed to determine which hospitals use information technology better than most. The
surveys measured the use of Internet technologies for customer service, disaster readiness,
business processes and workforce issues to improve quality. And, for the fifth straight year, Texas
Health Resources was among the nation's most technologically advanced health care systems. Even the Wall Street Journal weighed
in on the annual list, praising the Most Wired hospitals for enhancing patient care through
technology. So what does all this mean to the health
care consumer? In the most basic sense, it means that physicians and other caregivers with
access to the best information technology no longer have to rely on 20th century methods to
care for 21st century patients. It means that such things as hospital registration, patient
monitoring, medical records and X-rays can be dealt with online when feasible - a more
efficient, and much faster, way to collect and retrieve crucial medical data. But most importantly, it means that
physicians and other caregivers can spend their time doing what they are trained to do -
care for patients - rather than waiting for information the old-fashioned way. For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO
Doug Hawthorne
with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD.
©
2003 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 