Healthcare Leadership Council

The uptake of electronic health records for managing patient information has hit a milestone.

• The federal Department of Health and Human Services says more than half of American doctors now use EHRs.
• The move from paper-based records to electronic records marks a change that could improve patient care, add to quality and help contain costs.
• Health care leaders have long advocated electronic health records systems as a central piece of modernizing our health system.

More than half of doctors have now switched to electronic health records. More Details »

The fourth annual Health Data Initiative Forum, or Health Datapalooza, took place Monday and Tuesday, June 3 and 4, in Washington, DC, and the Healthcare Leadership Council and its members had key roles in this conference focusing on how data can drive health system improvements.

HLC President Mary R. Grealy was the moderator in a forum on the relationship between patient privacy and health data applications.  Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove was one of the event’s keynote speakers.

Representatives from HLC members Aetna, AstraZeneca, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Health Care Service Corporation, Healthways, Pfizer, Sanofi, Surescripts and Texas Health Resources participated on panels or made presentations.

Report “does not diminish the imperative to strengthen the Medicare program.” 

The improved financial outlook for the Medicare program is good news and reflects, in large part, successful innovations in the private sector to constrain healthcare costs while improving the quality of care delivery and patient outcomes.

This Trustees Report does not, however, diminish the imperative to strengthen the Medicare program.  The core message from the trustees is that Medicare’s financial future remains in jeopardy and structural reform is essential.  With the retiree population rapidly increasing and the ratio of taxpaying workers to beneficiaries continuing to decline, it cannot be argued that the status quo is sustainable. More Details »