George W. Bush Touches Briefly on Health IT History in Comments at HIMSS15

The 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush spoke in front of a capacity crowd of 6,700 people at the Skyline Ballroom at the 2015 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference in Chicago. 

Bush, who started the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in 2004, talked about his declaration at the 2004 State of the Union Address where he challenged the country to have all health records digitized in 10 years.

“I was trying to figure out how to make healthcare more efficient. One way to do this was to create more efficient systems. I want to thank you for carrying the ball,” said Bush. “Our vision was that a guy gets into a car wreck and an emergency responder goes to the spot, and he has the patient's record right there.”

Bush spent his conversation with H. Stephen Lieber, president and CEO of HIMSS, talking about a variety of topics, including his current leisure pursuits, as well as global health efforts in Africa, foreign policy, 9/11, and his brother Jeb Bush. He said if his brother runs for President, he should be judged on his own character and policies and not by his family relationship with either George H.W. Bush or with himself, George W. Bush.