You can go to an ATM machine anytime to get cash, make a deposit or even move money from your savings account to checking, and it’s all safe, dependable and convenient.

Why can’t we expect the same use of information technology in health care?

The answer is that we should. Health reform needs to bring American health care into the 21st century, using digital information to elevate safety, quality and cost-efficiency.

WellPoint and its affiliated health plans are paving the way toward this brighter future, in a number of innovative ways.

• We’ve developed digital personal health records (PHRs) to give individuals greater access to and control over their own medical history, and to enable doctors to retrieve accurate patient data quickly for quality treatment.
• WellPoint plans provide computers and handheld PDAs to nearly 19,000 doctors for e-prescribing, sharply reducing the medical errors and drug safety events that result in patients spending two million unnecessary days in the hospital each year.
• Our digital paperless claims system is lowering health care administrative costs and improving communications between health providers and patients.

We’ve been working with Congress this year to pass legislation that promotes the electronic sharing of clinical data at all stages of patient care.

But more needs to be done.

We urge Congress to pass health reform that requires those eligible for federal dollars to employ systems that share information and have decision support tools.