August 25, 2009
Sequel Systems Says Hospitals Would Benefit from Government Grants to Make the Transition to EHRs
| Melville, NY (August 25, 2009) — Irfan Iqbal, Director of Medical Informatics, Sequel Systems, says the U.S. government’s plan to provide grant money to hospitals in making the transition from paper-based to electronic health records (EHRs) would give the hospitals the resources it needs to enter the digital age and create much-needed jobs. |
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| On August 20, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius introduced a plan to provide approximately $1.2 billion in grant money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to help hospitals transition to the use of EMRs. Of that amount, $589 million would go to establish centers to help hospitals and clinics with the technical aspects of how to choose a system for electronic health records, and the other $564 million would give hospitals the capability to share patient information with one another. The grants would be available on October 1. |
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| Mr. Iqbal agreed with President Barack Obama that using electronic records will create more jobs in the health information technology sector. In addition, according to a RAND study, EHRs will save the national healthcare system $77 billion annually. This will eradicate the estimated $17-29 billion in costs as a result of medical errors. |
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| “EHRs will improve patient safety reporting and data analysis and prevent such errors by providing built-in safety management protocols and risk-assessment tools including early warnings and alerts,” Mr. Iqbal said. “In addition, they will also prevent duplicate tests by reminding physicians about preventive services.” |
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| For more information, contact Sequel Systems, Inc. at 631.694.3600 or 800.965.2728. |
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