Better Coordination in Healthcare - a Stretch of Common Ground

For anyone following the Health Care Reform Summit yesterday (25 February, 2010), consensus may not be a word that comes readily to mind. However, despite the diversity of concepts and ideas expressed at the gathering there was one that did not meet with debate from either party, i.e., the need for better overall healthcare coordination. Throughout the debate, on both sides of the table, as theories over what could or should be done to improve the American Healthcare system were being bandied about, the idea that increasing the degree of communication and collaboration between healthcare providers would make healthcare less costly and more effective went uncontested. No matter what else, if anything, comes out of the healthcare debate, this bodes well for a continuation of the gathering momentum towards more widespread adoption of Health Information Exchanges, EMRs, EHRs and PHRs.