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The Business of Health Care Report
Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature established the Texas Health Services Authority to facilitate the voluntary and secure electronic exchange of health information. It also directed the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules establishing electronic communications with Medicaid-participating providers.
We are pleased to see these new regulations, which allow us to improve communication among providers as well as increase communication among various electronic health records, known as EHRs.
THR is a proponent of electronic health records because the technology promises faster, more efficient, safer service from your medical team.
During the last ten years, THR invested significantly in the development of an infrastructure to support our electronic health record, and we are in the process of implementing it throughout our hospitals. Presbyterian Hospital of Plano has fully implemented the EHR, and we are well on our way at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. We anticipate starting at Harris Methodist Southwest by the end of the year.
We believe the EHR will facilitate the voluntary and secure electronic exchange of information. Imagine – a physician in Fort Worth caring for a car accident victim from a distant city. If the physician is able to pull up the patient’s information, he or she would be able to make better decisions about the patient’s care.
For Texas Health Resources and its faith-based hospitals – Harris Methodist, Presbyterian and Arlington Memorial – I’m
Doug Hawthorne.
©
2005 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report."