Speaking March 6 at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) convention in New Orleans, former President Bill Clinton suggested information technology could be the key to controlling rising healthcare costs.
According a Modern Healthcare article, Clinton cited data with U.S. healthcare costs running at 17% of GDP, compared with 11.8% in France, “the difference between 17(%) and 11.8(%) is about a trillion dollars a year,” he said. “We're being overcharged for it, or we don't manage it well.”
The former president said that by using healthcare IT better, “we can manage information in ways we never have before so we can know what the heck we're doing,” and in 10 years, get the costs of U.S. healthcare “in line with other countries,” according to the article.
Clinton’s keynote reportedly filled the 5,000-plus seat main hall of the Morial Convention Center, and HIMSS organizers had to broadcast the speech to standing-room-only crowds at four remote sites.
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