In Missouri to push his proposal to expand access
to health insurance, President Bush on Thursday
praised advanced patient-care technology at a local
hospital.
Bush toured the Lee's Summit, Mo., campus of the
St. Luke's Health System, which is less than 2
years old and features an array of high-tech
systems that closely track patient care, even from
half a state away.
In one room, Bush studied a wall of computer
screens that included medical information on every
patient currently receiving treatment in the
hospital's emergency room, including the X-ray of a
girl who had dislocated her elbow.
In another room in the intensive-care unit,
hospital officials showed the president a
high-powered camera above a bed that would allow
physicians anywhere to keep an eye on the patient's
progress. A similar system allows hospital
employees to watch patients at ICUs in other St.
Luke's system hospitals, including one in Hays,
Kan.
''Medicine is finally catching up with the rest of
America in the use of technology,'' said Bush, who
has advocated for greater use of computerized
health records as a way to bring down costs and
reduce medical errors.
Afterward, Bush attended a round-table discussion
in one of the hospital's conference rooms with a
group of small-business owners and employees,
hearing their concerns about paying for insurance.
