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Automated Medical Records: Leadership Needed to Expedite Standards Development

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date April 30, 1993
Report No. IMTEC-93-17
Subject
Summary:

Although electronic sharing of medical data is crucial to the effective and efficient delivery of quality health care, more than a decade of effort has yielded little agreement among public and private interests on the standards required to develop an automated medical records system. As a result, U.S. health care practitioners continue to rely on a cumbersome, paper-based clinical records system that has remained largely unchanged for decades. Efforts to develop automated medical record standards have been stymied by a lack of leadership. Several voluntary organizations have been most active in developing standards. But the complex nature of medical care, the large number of standards needed, and the variety of special interests involved in standards development have made this a daunting task. To date, the federal role in this effort has been limited. GAO believes that more active federal involvement could speed standards development.

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