George W. Bush gave electronic medical records the proverbial seal of approval with a speech today at the Cleveland Clinic. While his administration’s not particularly known for its high-tech ties, this foot on the accelerator is of interest. If you’re looking for growth areas in IT, the medical field is ripe and ready for change.

Now, look, most industries in America have used information technology to make their businesses more cost-effective, more efficient and more productive, and the truth of the matter is, health care hadn’t. I mean, health care has been fantastic in terms of technological change. I mean, you see these machines in these hospitals — compared to what life was like ten years ago, things have changed dramatically.

And health care has got — we’ve got fantastic new pharmaceuticals that help save lives, but we’ve got docs still writing records by hand. And most docs can’t write very well anyway, so — (laughter.) Can you? (Laughter.)

And so the fundamental question is, how do we encourage information technology in a field like health care that will save lives, make patients more involved in decision-making, and save money for the American people.

The President’s noble goal, in this case, is for every American to have an electronic medical record within a decade.

Bush spun a tale, to justify the cause:

… you go to Florida, you get in an automobile accident, an electronic medical record means your data to the doc in the emergency room is transmitted just like that — as opposed to calling somebody, getting them out of bed, could you please go find so-and-so’s file, read somebody’s file, and transmit the information. I mean, you can imagine — a speedy response to an emergency saves lives.

Of course, electronic medical records aren’t just about saving lives. It’s about saving money. And those are cost savings that promise to cover the expense of implementation.

… the efficiency he just described means he’s saving time and, therefore, money for the patients. And when you multiply the efficiencies to be gained, all across the spectrum, whether it be individual docs or hospitals or networks, that’s why some predict that you can save 20 percent of the cost of health care as a result of the advent of information technology.

Transcripts of the President’s speech can be found on whitehouse.gov.

[tags]electronic medical records[/tags]