MAeHC Quality Data Center – Making Healthcare More Efficient
You don’t have to watch the news for very long these days without realizing that the health care industry in the United States is in a precarious situation. Many practices are being criticized for their inefficiency and high cost to individuals, including a health insurance industry that is far more interested in the bottom line that really providing care for their policy holders when they need it. Many people don’t realize that one of the most important provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was funding for health care institutions that make strides toward creating more efficient systems for processing health information, and that’s exactly what the MAeHC Quality Data Center intends to help them accomplish.
In case you’ve never heard of the MAeHC Quality Data Center before, you should know that it is an extension of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative as a way to bring together major stakeholders in the health care industry in that state. The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative is focused on bringing together these stakeholders to move forward with plans to implement efficient, secure electronic health recording systems that will improve the care provided to millions of people all over the state.
One of the biggest benefits of using electronic medical record keeping systems is that doctors and specialists will be able to quickly access information about the personal health history of their patients. In the past, doctors and patients that wanted to avoid repeating the same tests and mistakes that have been made by past physicians have had to wait weeks or even months for complete medical records to be mailed or faxed from the original source. With the access that the MAeHC Quality Data Center provides, it is will be possible to gain permission to view this information immediately.
Another benefit of the MAeHC Quality Data Center is that it will prevent people from being prescribed medications that will interact negatively with the drugs that they are already taking, as well as preventing over prescription of certain pharmaceuticals, like pain medications. This is especially important in situations where patients might purposefully mislead a new doctor into thinking that they have never been treated for their chronic pain, when in fact they are already filling prescriptions from several other medical professionals. Of course, with any data base situation, there are issues of security and control, and individuals should consider the consequences when providing their records to any database.
