Telemedicine Lobbyists Meet with North Dakota State Legislators

An excerpt from Senator Tom Seymour's blog:

Mr. Howard C. Anderson, Executive Director, State
Board of Pharmacy, provided information regarding
health information technology. He said North Dakota
State University has received a federal grant relating
to telepharmacy, and the university has awarded a
contract to Catholic Health Initiatives to implement a
telepharmacy program. He said the telepharmacy
program consists of a central site where pharmacists
and technicians receive information regarding orders
for drugs from the prescribing physicians in rural
health care facilities. He said the orders are reviewed
by the pharmacist using the specific patient's
information. He said the project would function more
effectively if the pharmacist could access the patient's
medical record at the facility and enter the
recommendations or approval directly into the record.
A copy of the information presented is on file in the
Legislative Council office.
Ms. Kimber Wraalstad, President and CEO,
Presentation Medical Center, Rolla, provided
information regarding health information technology.
She said health information technology is important to
increasing the quality of patient care. She said health
information technology applications are expensive to
implement and maintain. She said several North
Dakota critical access hospitals in the state are
experiencing operating losses and are not able to
purchase health information technology applications.
She said hospitals in Bottineau, Rolla, and Stanley are
working together on health information technology
projects and 10 health care facilities in the northwest
part of the state have formed the Northwest Alliance
for Information Technology Projects to research and
implement health information technology applications.
A copy of the information presented is on file in the
Legislative Council office.
In response to a question from Senator
Christmann, Ms. Wraalstad said hospitals rely more
on each other for assistance with health information
technology because the North Dakota Healthcare
Association and the North Dakota Long Term Care
Association do not have expertise in health
information technology.