Policy, Health IT

HHS Secretary Tom Price wants to ease health IT burden on doctors but is committed to interoperability

"We need our physicians to be patient facing, not computer facing," he said in a keynote speech delivered at the Health Datapalooza conference. "We simply have to do a better job of reducing the burden on healthcare providers."

By Stephanie Baum on April 27, 2017
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 18: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) testifies during his confirmation hearing January 17, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Price, a leading critic of the Affordable Care Act, is expected to face questions about his healthcare stock purchases before introducing legislation that would benefit the companies. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price during his confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price marked his first Health Datapalooza conference this week in his new role by calling for a balance between the need to move towards “true interoperability” and reducing the health IT burden for physicians.

“We need our physicians to be patient facing, not computer facing,” he said in a keynote speech at the Washington D.C. conference. “We simply have to do a better job of reducing the burden on healthcare providers.”

In a 20-minute talk, Price walked a fuzzy line. He acknowledged the fragmented computer systems within healthcare facilities and the need to improve data sharing. But he said his office would take a simpler approach by encouraging interoperability from a regulatory standpoint at the 60,000-foot level rather than “stipulating every single dot and tittle”.

“Interoperability and the free flow of data are absolutely crucial to ensure we are helping as many patients as we can,” he said. 

He voiced support for the interoperability pledge to adhere to common standards launched last year.

Price connects the admin demands put on physicians to manage EHR data to doctors retiring from medicine earlier.  He contrasted this trend with a father and grandfather who continued to practice medicine into their eighties and nineties, respectively.

“I think it is incredibly important for us as a society to ask why is that happening?”

Price also touted a couple of book recommendations — Dr. Eric Topol’s “The Patient Will See You Now” and Potent Medicine by Dr. John Toussaint. Both take different approaches in their call for patient-centered care delivery and highlighting a shift in patient-physician interactions in the future towards more empowered patients.