TN Could Become Center for Healthcare IT

A former national healthcare information technology director says Tennessee could become a center for the industry.

David Brailer directed the country’s first national healthcare IT office under former president George W. Bush. He now runs an investment firm. Brailer says Tennessee’s already a leader in experimenting with ways to get more physicians and hospitals to use things like electronic medical records.

“I do think that Tennessee — with your governor, with Vanderbilt, with your Blue Cross Blue Shield leadership — is already well positioned to be one of those centers of innovation that is creating a job engine and an innovation engine.”

Brailer says the key to changing the system is changing financial incentives. Usually, insurance companies only pay for actual office visits.

“We don’t have incentives for the right kind of care delivery built into the system.”

Brailer says instead, doctors should be paid for e-mails and phone calls so patients don’t have to come into the office. He says the nearly $50 billion of stimulus money for healthcare IT won’t make a difference unless incentives change to encourage more providers to use the systems.

Brailer will speak at a Nashville Health Care Council forum today in Cool Springs.