Electronic Health Records
January 15, 2009
Jack Cochran, MD, Testifies Before U.S. Senate Committee About Health IT
Jack Cochran, MD
Dr. Jack Cochran, executive director of The Permanente Federation, testified Thursday before a U.S. Senate committee about Kaiser Permanente’s deployment of Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect™. He also urged senators to invest in health IT to improve the safety, quality, and efficiency of the United States health system.
Dr. Cochran shared with the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee some important lessons Kaiser Permanente learned deploying KP HealthConnect, which is the world’s largest civilian electronic health record. More than 2 million Kaiser Permanente members use the organization’s electronic health record to schedule appointments, view lab results, communicate via secure e-mail with their physicians, and complete other important tasks. KP HealthConnect has replaced most paper medical records in Kaiser Permanente’s 421 medical offices. Kaiser Permanente’s 14,000 physicians and 100,000 nurses use the system to care for the organization’s 8.6 million members.
Dr. Cochran’s testimony was timely as it coincided with President-Elect Barack Obama’s recent call for the implementation of electronic health records nationwide within the next five years.
Titled “Investing in Health IT: A Stimulus for a Healthier America,” the HELP Committee hearing was the first in a series of hearings looking into ways to successfully create a paperless, interoperable system for health information technology in the United States. Dr. Cochran was joined on the panel by:
- Peter Neupert, vice president of Microsoft Health Solutions
- Janet Corrigan, president of the National Quality Forum in Washington, D.C.
- Valerie Melvin, director of information technology for the Government Accounting Office
- Mary Grealy, president of the Health Leadership Council in Washington, D.C.
Follow these links to read Dr. Cochran’s testimony or watch a recording of the full testimony:
