Electronic records push: Big companies tell physicians they better go tech

Some observers say the initiative to promote personal health records is a step toward business squeezing out physicians who don't adopt information technology.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. Dec. 18, 2006.

A coalition starting with five big employers believes it can lead physicians to technological waters and make them drink.

Wal-Mart Stores, Intel, BP America, Pitney Bowes and Applied Materials are launching an initiative under which they will invest at least $5 million to give electronic portable personal health records to employees through a Web-based framework called Dossia. Other employers are being invited to join the coalition, which launches its service in mid-2007.

Medical costs are rising faster than inflation, and it's affecting employers' competitiveness because they pay half the cost of the total health insurance in the country, Intel Chair Craig Barrett said during a Dec. 6 news conference in Washington, D.C. "We want to get a more effective return on that investment" and help employees better manage their care, he said.

Barrett said the employers don't intend to penalize doctors who don't access and update workers' PHRs. In a phone interview with AMNews after the news conference, Barrett said he believed that employees would be the ones demanding that physicians take their PHRs. But he said employers might "lean" on physicians, though he didn't specify how.

"The consumer is going to demand best practices, the consumer is going to want to have the data, the consumer is probably going to drive [doctors and other health care professionals] more than employers," Barrett said. The employer coalition views its Dossia PHR initiative as a way to empower consumers, he said.