Article - April 16, 2007 - New York Times

Big Medical Step, Starting With the City’s Poor

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

For years, policymakers have said that the next big step in American health care should be electronic records systems that remind doctors and patients about needed care, and make it easier for doctors to share information with one another.

New York City officials today are to announce what they hope is a leap in that direction, far beyond what any other part of the country has attempted, by providing free software to doctors who treat hundreds of thousands of people. And defying the usual pattern of wealthy patients benefiting first from technological advances, the city is starting with the poor.

“We will cover half of all the high-volume Medicaid providers in the city, those where over 30 percent of their patient encounters are Medicaid or the uninsured,” said Farzad Mostashari, an assistant city health commissioner overseeing the project.

Over the next two years, the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will distribute the software to about 1,500 medical practices, from small neighborhood doctors’ offices to large clinics, including the medical offices at the Rikers Island jail. City officials, and makers of patient records software, said they do not believe any state or large local government has tried such a thing.

The department spent months shopping for an electronic records system before awarding a $19.8 million contract to eClinicalWorks, a Massachusetts company that is a sales leader in the field. The medical practices will have to supply the computers. Some already have the equipment. Others that do not might qualify for a state program that awards grants to upgrade medical technology.

“As a doctor, I’m likely to pay attention to the patient’s acute complaint, and not to notice, ‘Oh, my goodness, she hasn’t had a mammogram,’ ” Dr. Mostashari said. “The computer never forgets, and it will remind me.”

The system can alert doctors when patients are due for preventive care and then the doctor can advise the patient.

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