Health care Rx: Computerize medical records

Competitive step would save lives and money, economic consultant says

By David Flaum   529- 2330
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May 27, 2005

Making doctors and hospitals computerize people's medical records could slash U.S. health care costs by as much as 40 percent.

That's the conclusion Dr. Paul London, author of "The Competition Solution: The Bipartisan Secret Behind American Prosperity," advanced to members of the Economic Club of Memphis on Thursday.

The biggest industry that has not had a competition solution is health care," London said. "Most people are stuck with a local monopoly. . . . They really don't have much of a choice."

The key to breaking those monopolies is computerized medical records, he said.

Doctors would have to talk more with one another, treatment would be better and there would be a foundation for competition because people could judge which hospitals and doctors produced the best results at the best prices, London said.

"You might get 40 percent of the cost out of health care."

London brushed off questions about the cost to doctors of such a plan.

"It doesn't matter how it's paid for, it's worth doing," London said. "If a doctor doesn't want to use it because it's too expensive, I say he shouldn't be a doctor. This would save a ton of money and thousands of lives."

In an interview later, London said such requirements could come about if President Bush put his clout behind them "because he pays so much of this (health care costs) in Medicare and Medicaid."

It is that kind of government action to promote competition that brought about the prosperity of the 1990s, London said.

Copyright, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. Used with permission.
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