I have been long shouting that the best thing to come out of the first days of our president has been the healthcare IT push though the ARRA. And it appears that I am not alone in my opinion that the careful application of technology to our medical care could not only bring us up to the rest of the planet, but save enough that the draconian measures may not be necessary.

I am really hoping that we give this a chance to happen. Two important points in my opinion:
The health IT standards effort has been ongoing since before the bill was signed. The team leading the charge is doing an amazing (very non-governmental) job of coming up with a way to coordinate all of the disparate standards.

The point about defensive medicine rings true with the healthcare professionals I know. They are not so much worried about the financial costs as the damage to their ability to practice medicine.

The study seems to indicate what I have long held that the legal settlements are just the tip of the iceberg – the real costs come not only in the ordering of “just to be sure” studies (which are gigantic), but in the unwillingness to practice shared medicine where one professional backs up another with the resulting much better health.

 But this “tort reform” thing has probably gotten too political to respond to reason – on either side.

The study answers the question I have thought was central to the health debate but was so far unanswered – where are the costs? We seem intent on saving money by not paying and raising money by taxing without ever discovering what the real costs are. This “cut out fraud and abuse” just did not ring true – either as the behavior of talented, well-trained professionals or as the main and only source of cost savings.

Wow, do I hope our lawmakers get copies of this.

- Tom Mariner,
New York