Public Policy

Residents in the commonwealth of Virginia must take their car for a “safety inspection” each year. The test criteria is published by the state and it is fairly easy to determine in advance if your car is going to pass the inspection. Before you take your car for inspection, first you make sure that all lights are functional, the tires all have proper tread, the windshield wipers are working, etc. If you find anything, you make a small fix BEFORE going to the inspection station and will save the hassle of dealing with a failed test. An ounce of prevention.

A while ago there were two healthcare conferences that we attended here in Washington DC on the same day. One was the American Telehealth Association’s Fall forum and the other was The Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR)’s Accessibility and Usability in Health Information Technology (HIT)

The big business interests of the Healthcare industry cried wolf (and lobbied hard)

against the meaningful use (now called “Promoting Interoperability”) program and enhancements to the usability requirements. Perhaps because they don’t want to spend the extra time and money to provide a healthcare system that truly follows a safety-enhanced design philosophy.