National Health Service a " Balkanized " Mess; Special Problems with IT

For many years, the U.K. healthcare system, theNational Health Service (NHS), has been referred to in the U.S. as a prime example of the success of a national healthcare system. Here's a brief summary of the NHS from Wikipedia:The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded national healthcare system for England and one of the four National Health Services for each constituent country of the United Kingdom.It is the largest single-payer healthcare system in the world. Primarily funded through the government funding and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England provides healthcare to all legal English residents, with most services free at the point of use. Some services, such as emergency treatment and treatment of infectious diseases, are free for everyone, including visitors.A recent article discussed in great detail the IT challenges being experienced by the NHS (see:In the UK, health care is national and popular. Its health IT is a Balkanized mess). Read the whole thing if you are interested. Below is an excerpt:For nearly 20 years, the British government has launched one initiative after another to build a digital records system that will improve care at its famed National Health Service. But its clinicians still struggle with a dearth of communication among care team members, leading to prolonged wait times for appointments, confused patients and needlessly repeated tests and procedures. In the United States, progressive D...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Hospital Financial Public Health Source Type: blogs