Transcripts

"Commentary"-Building A Healthcare Road Map

SUZANNE PRATT: Tonight's commentator has a different take on infrastructure spending and healthcare reform. He's Steven Ullman, professor at the University of Miami's school of business administration.

STEVE ULLMANN, PROF., UNIV. OF MIAMI, SCHOOL OF BUS. ADMIN.: Ah, the new new deal. President-Elect Obama has spoken of the importance of the government injecting money directly into the economy to establish new jobs and build infrastructure. Further, Obama is focusing on health care reform. The development of a national electronic medical record system, among Obama's proposals, incorporates these goals. It is similar in concept to the development of our superhighways. An outgrowth of the new deal, focus was on job creation, infrastructure and efficiency. Highways are public goods; a privatized system would not have worked. Each purveyor of a highway segment would have had its own pricing structures, rules of use, policing systems. A public highway system resolved these issues, allowing the smooth flow of commercial and personal traffic. And so it is with medical records. Our current paper-based system is metaphorically one of cobblestone roads and Model-A Fords. An electronic medical super-highway is desperately needed. But care must be taken. A private structure would tend to work fine, while utilizing specific providers or health insurers. But as one were to switch providers, insurance plans or geographic location, communication and information flow would be compromised. A Federally funded and organized system will ensure consistency, integrating medical and financial information nationally. Reduction in paperwork, time, tests and errors will result. Short-run stimulus, long-run health care quality and cost improvements -- sounds like a new deal. I am Steve Ullmann.