While online traffic and insurance exchange website glitches have been a few of the complicating factors since the marketplaces opened for enrollment on Oct. 1, more long-term problems could present themselves if specific issues aren't addressed in a timely manner, a new report suggests.
Recently, healthcare executives convened at the annual Healthcare Business Intelligence Summit, where officials in the industry discussed some of the advancements made in healthcare over the past year and what obstacles remain in the way.
Laura Madsen, international speaker on healthcare business intelligence, noted that the national conversation on healthcare quality and availability is taking place throughout the country among consumers as well as business owners who make employee benefits available to their workers.
"The healthcare and political arenas are intensely focused on debating the merits of 'Obamacare,'" said Madsen. "But nobody is examining challenges and issues physicians, clinics and hospitals across the country are facing as they transition to the kinds of electronic record keeping systems the Act requires. "Unless addressed, problems with data standardization – how it's recorded, input and analyzed – will create a very long shadow far beyond the passing of this law."
She added that there needs to be a more streamlined way in which doctors and nurses input data into electronic medical records. Currently, they do so in very different ways, which could create confusion for other healthcare workers as well as patients themselves.
In the meantime, the insurance exchange websites are still mired with glitches and error messages. Two weeks after the marketplaces opened for enrollment, a cable television news reporter was unable to sign up for a health insurance plan through the government's website healthcare.gov.
