Posted on 10/23/2013 4:04:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
Dr. Nicholas DiNubile, a Philadelphia orthopedic surgeon, has a timely reminder for everyone encountering the federal health care exchange meltdown: "If you think signing up for Obamacare is a nightmare, ask your doctor how the EMR mandate is going."
Bingo.
The White House finally acknowledged the spectacular public disaster of Obamacare's Internet exchange infrastructure during Monday's Rose Garden infomercial. But President Shamwow and his sales team are AWOL on the bureaucratic ravages of the federal electronic medical records mandate. Modernized data collection is a worthy goal, of course. But distracted doctors are seeing "more pixels than patients," Dr. DiNubile observes, and the EMR edict is foisting "dangerous user-unfriendly technology" on physicians and patients.
Instead of concentrating on care, doctors face exhausting regulatory battles over the definition of "meaningful use" of technology, skyrocketing costs and unwarranted Big Brother intrusions on the practice of medicine.
As I reported last year, Obamacare's top-down, tax-subsidized, job-killing, privacy-undermining electronic record-sharing scheme has been a big fat bust. More than $4 billion in "incentives" has been doled out to force doctors and hospitals to convert and upgrade by 2015. But favored EMR vendors, including Obama bundler Judy Faulkner's Epic Systems, have undermined rather than enhanced interoperability. Oversight remains lax. And after hyping the alleged benefits for nearly a decade, the RAND Corporation finally 'fessed up that its cost-savings predictions of $81 billion a year -- used repeatedly to support the Obama EMR mandate -- were (like every other Obamacare promise) vastly overstated.
In June, the Annals of Emergency Medicine published a study warning that the "rush to capitalize on the huge federal investment of $30 billion for the adoption of electronic medical records led to some unfortunate and unintended consequences" tied to "communication failure, poor data display, wrong order/wrong patient errors and alert fatigue." Also this summer, Massachusetts reported that 60 percent of doctors could not meet the EMR mandate and face potential loss of their licenses in 2015. And a few weeks ago, the American College of Physicians pleaded with the feds to delay the mandate's data collection, certification and reporting requirements.
Dr. Hayward K. Zwerling, an internal medicine physician in Massachusetts who is also president of ComChart Medical Software, blasted the Obamacare EMR mandate in a recent open letter: "As the developer of an EMR, I sincerely believe that a well-designed EMR is a useful tool for many practices. However, the federal and state government's misguided obsession to stipulate which features must be in the EMRs, and how the physician should use the EMRs in the exam room places the politicians in the middle of the exam room between the patient and the physician, and seriously disrupts the physician-patient relationship." Zwerling's call to arms appealed to fellow doctors to pressure the feds to repeal the mandate. "It is past time that physicians reclaim control of their offices, if not the practice of medicine."
As I've mentioned previously, my own primary care physician in Colorado Springs quit her regular practice and converted to "concierge care" because of the EMR imposition. Dr. Henry Smith, a Pennsylvania pulmonary doctor, also walked away. "Faced with the implementation costs and skyrocketing overhead in general," he told me, "I finally threw in the towel and closed my practice." He said, "As EMRs proliferate, and increased Medicare scrutiny looms, medical documentation is evolving from its original goal of recording what actually was going on with a patient, and what the provider was actually thinking, to sterile boilerplate documents designed to justify the highest billing codes."
Dr. Michael Laidlaw of Rocklin, Calif., told EHR Practice Consultants that he abandoned the Obamacare EMR "incentive" program "when I realized that I spent the first two to five minutes of each visit endlessly clicking a bunch of garbage to make all the green lights show up on the (meaningful use) meter. I said to myself: 'I'm not wasting precious seconds of my life and my patients' time to ensure some database gets filled with data. I didn't go into medicine for this. It is not benefiting my patients or me. I hate it.' I actually refused to take the $10K-plus this year. I have even accepted that I would rather be penalized in the future. What is worth the most to me is AUTONOMY."
Let me underscore that again: Doctors face steep penalties if they can't meet the radical technology goals imposed by the very same glitch-plagued Obamacare bureaucrats who now need an emergency "tech surge" to fix their own failed info-tech Titanic. The Obamacare wrecking ball has only just begun.
ping
the stooges in our federal government are despicable
You said it
My own observation over the last few years is that electronic medical records are horribly inaccurate, and make it much more difficult or even impossible to extract information from the record that might actually help the patient.
Now this?
Heck, that's a two-pack p/d flopper.
B/C the Mrs wont let him smoke indoors, he must be living in the backyard----puffing away as the O/Care news grows more dire.
Fox's Ed Henry oughta check it out.
===========================================
When the Washington Redskins report seeing WH "smoke signals"....that's a clue.
ROTFL.
Even the CMS official responsible for initiating this monstrosity has admitted that PHYSICIANS NEED TO HAVE ACCESS TO ADEQUATE CAPITAL TO FUND THEIR PRACTICES FOR 6-8 MONTHS as this change will produce almost no revenue for that time period.
Will your doctor be bankrupt around January 1, 2015?
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O/CARE'S EMR---MASSIVE PRIVACY INVASION Doctors, hospitals, and other health professionals are being pressured to adopt EMR systems and send patient information to the federal government's medical database by 2015. If they don't comply, they'll be penalized with reduced payments for services.
This means the government will own your personal, private information, and you have no say in the matter.
I am traveling through Central America. The doctors in El Salvador, there are a LOT of them, are building hospitals, to take in Americans, as they expect HUGE AMOUNTS of out sourcing to replace knees, do by pass operations and tummy tucks. It´s a booming business, and quite promising. These jerks have really sent the American Medical Community up a river with no oars.
I was on a trip to Peru and there were Americans who traveled there for medical reasons............so weird because Peru in a lot of ways was still very primitive mixed in with stuff that was very 21st century
I have a primary care physician and an eye physician. Both implement the electronic records requirement. The hospital where I will go has the records on call.
As far as I can tell, it is not an imposition to young technical savvy physicians and medical groups.
The mandated EMRs have cost physicians much more, including through loss of time that could be spent in actual patient care.
The implementation has also cost jobs, mine included. And since I was a self-employed contractor, my job loss isn’t counted in the statistics.
Not only has the requirement of EMRs not driven down costs, it’s aded to overhead for physicians.
Yes, like everything the govt touches, it’s a nightmare for all involved.
Electronic medical records are not intended to make healthcare more efficient, but to put every detail of your life at the fingertips of the DNC.
Dare to run for office as a conservative? You better not have been treated for an STD in your past!
Dare to challenge a RINO in a primary? You better have never visited a psychologist in your past!
That is why all this information is being collected by DNC donors. That is why private contractors have access to all NSA data.
“WAIT’LL DOCTORS SEE THEIR INCOME DEMOLISHED October 2014 will usher in a new diagnosis coding called ICD 10.”
They should consider moving the C to the end and changing it to T.
We are so pleased that we closed our large practice last year. Because of the expense of “updating” to the electronic records, etc., we closed our practice and retired several years earlier than planned to avoid this BS. Now we can sit back and laugh as the tragedy unfolds. The nobamacare BS is so sad for the country. Thanks DIMs/LIBs. Thanks.......................
“Dr. Hayward K. Zwerling, an internal medicine physician in Massachusetts who is also president of ComChart Medical Software, blasted the Obamacare EMR mandate in a recent open letter: “As the developer of an EMR, I sincerely believe that a well-designed EMR is a useful tool for many practices. However, the federal and state government’s misguided obsession to stipulate which features must be in the EMRs, and how the physician should use the EMRs in the exam room places the politicians in the middle of the exam room between the patient and the physician, and seriously disrupts the physician-patient relationship.” Zwerling’s call to arms appealed to fellow doctors to pressure the feds to repeal the mandate. “It is past time that physicians reclaim control of their offices, if not the practice of medicine.”
Oh my - another mandate most people are unaware of.
There are at least 4 tyrants in charge of implementing the ACA, “ObamaCare.”
Dept. of Labor
IRS
Dept. of Health and Human Services
Epic Systems [This one is highly relevant to this thread.]
INFO ON THE CURRENT HEADS OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS:
1. Department of Labor - Thomas Perez
From Wikipedia: “The United States Secretary of Labor is the head of the U.S. Department of Labor who exercises control over the department and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies.”
“Previously there was one U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor, uniting this department with the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is headed by a separate U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Seven women have served as Secretary of Labor, which is more than any other cabinet position.”
“Thomas Perez is the current U.S. Secretary of Labor. He took office after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 18, 2013.”
He was formerly the Assistant US Attorney General, and also was head of the Civil Rights Division of the Dept of Justice. He is the one who filed a brief at the Supreme Court that the government could regulate the hiring practices of church-based religious schools.
For more on Thomas Perez and the Dept of Labor, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perez
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/vernon/100913
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Labor
2. IRS - Director of the Affordable Care Act Office - Sarah Hall Ingram
She has recently gained notoriety by being involved in the IRS targeting of Tea Party and other conservative organizations being prevented from obtaining tax-exempt status. Per ABC News 5/16/13, she is the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act Office
Read more about her here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Hall_Ingram
[Note: peculiarly, there is VERY little noted in the Wikipedia article. Check it out.]
http://michellemalkin.com/2013/05/17/director-obamacare-irs-office/
http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2013reports/201343033fr.html
3. Department of Health and Human Services - Kathleen Sebelius
Former Governor of Kansas who was deeply involved in furthering the efforts of Planned Parenthood and abortion. She was funded in large part by such sterling citizens as George Tiller “the Baby Killer.” She was involved in a scandal whereby it has been shown that she has been soliciting funds from businesses and entities which she is regulating. She is the one currently in charge of and responsible for the roll-out of the ObamaCare online sign-up debacle.
Read more about her and the DHHS here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Sebelius
4. Epic Systems - Judy Faulkner
Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic Systems, is the entity which will store more than 40% of the US population’s medical information by 2013.
Epic Systems not only is seeking governmental contracts, but has major union contracts as well, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the biggest government unions.
Some of the major hospital institutions switching over to the Epic software include:
Kaiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic, Cedars Sinai, NYU Langone Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Harvard Community Health Plan, Sutter Health, Geisinger Health System, MD Anderson.
Read more about Epic Systems and Judy Faulkner here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2012/04/18/epic-systems-tough-billionaire/ [Be sure to check out the picture of this beautiful woman.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Systems
Will your doctor be bankrupt around January 1, 2015?
Ours told us in 2010 that he would retire in 2014 and has been working like a mad dog to be able to do so. Such a shame, for he is a gifted young doc.
And how many bundlers were among the contractors charged with developing the Obamacare website?
Follow the money.
Thank you for all the insights, dear TEXOKIE!
Thanks for the kind words, AG. Was just putting together a summary of what we are up against. Not news to us here, but assembled it for others who might wish to use it for educational purposes. Several people on our email list got it as well.
Good to see you this morning! Hope all is well with you!
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