Electronic health care records can help eliminate medical errors, Gingrich says

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was in Baltimore Monday addressing health care leaders on medical errors and the importance of using technology to eliminate the industry problem.

Gingrich was the keynote speaker at a conference hosted by Malvern, Pa.-based Siemens Medical Solutions at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel. Gingrich, founder of the Center for Healthcare Transformation, told the crowd of several hundred at the Siemens Computerized Physician Order Entry symposium that three challenges stand in the way of health companies making better use of technology:

• Determining what really works;
• Creating transparency about price and quality of the technology; and,
• Determining the right payment contracts.

"We do not today intellectually have a solution to these three things," Gingrich said.

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Medical errors harm at least 1.5 million people annually, according the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The errors can result in an additional $3.5 billion in annual health care costs, the organization says.

One issue Gingrich mentioned was the importance of switching to electronic health care records instead of paper-based records.

Gingrich spent the majority of his one-hour speech talking about leadership and how the attendees can help colleagues get on board to adapt to technology.

He stressed the importance of "cheerful persistence" to the crowd.

"If you are depressed and persistent, people ignore you while you sit in the corner," he said.

Gingrich recommended health care leaders read several brooks, including former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's "Leadership" and "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis.

Responding to a question from the audience, Gingrich said he has worked presidential candidates Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) on their health care policies.

But he said there is a "huge lagging indicator between current political approaches and the future. The politics of health policy are about a decade behind. It's a very significant challenge."

Transforming health care, Gingrich said, would lead to 100 percent of Americans receiving insurance coverage.