Tech leaders release e-health roadmap.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis

Chief executives of the United States' leading high-tech companies say that building a networked healthcare system is a national imperative and called on policymakers, U.S. businesses, and healthcare providers to develop the policies, standards, and systems needed to make it a reality. The Technology CEO Council, a public policy advocacy organization composed of chief executive officers (CEOs) from leading information technology companies, said modernizing our healthcare system by connecting health information between doctors, patients, pharmacies, and labs is critical not only to improve our nation's healthcare system, but also to improve global competitiveness.

The Technology CEO Council's "A Healthy System" report and "E-Health Readiness Guide" provide a roadmap and policy recommendations on how to implement information management into the healthcare system and milestones to measure progress.

"Many of the problems with the U.S. healthcare system were exposed after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when paper health records were lost and victims were unable to access their health information or provide complete medical histories to caregivers," said Craig Barrett, chairman of the board of Intel Corp. and chairman of the Technology CEO Council.

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The reports call for

* Providers, payers, and regulators to adopt interoperable...