Haste makes waste.
Pudlo’s thoery on database integrity:
“The bigger the database, the more prone to error it becomes, AND the more difficult it is to fix it.”
insert your most personal and critical data here, and see what’ll happen
This won’t happen in my lifetime. All those records will take years and years to convert. If they scan them, then someone will have to go back in and correct the scanning errors. Plus, there will be the MD handwriting problem.
Main purpose for this is to ration healthcare for the elderly. Not that it doesn't need to be done on some level (I know seniors who are using lots of Medicare dollars for tests just so the physician can stay in "cya" mode.) However, isn't that situation better served by having a less litigious atmosphere.
Ugh. Most electronic medical records are a piece of crap. Slower to use and input information. Force you into limited choices. VERY user unfriendly. Also, just wait till the National Data base gets a false input like say, you have Syphilis, or it decides your dead, and try and correct that. Think having a messed up credit rating sucks? Just wait....
Go to any hospital that has computer workstations and you’ll see nurses sitting at those terminals instead of with their patients.
Bureaucratic weasel words translation: "We'll move the goal posts whenever we feel like it. It's not as if a contract with the government means anything, after all."
bump for later
There are at least two digital companies companies fighting for the hospital business and plenty of other products ready for the PRIVATE SECTOR. When Epic and Cerner put their patient products in place most doctors and hospitals can not only have patient records to share, but they can let the patient read their file and make comments to staff. This kind of stuff is all over the DFW market and does not need the governments help. If other places are slow to adopt - it is not about anything but business decisions.
Local hospitals here in Seattle Metro area conclude that EMR is more expensive to maintain and manage.
Advantages are quicker insurance reimbursements.
But overall costs are greater.
However, government weenies crave computers, MIS, etc., anything that brings semblance of intelligence and control.
But intelligence via MIS-like tech is inferior to highly developed brains of a competent MD. And therein lies the rub.
We would do better to layoff at least 50% of non-defense related government workforce.
The only reason the Feds want to track the “quality of care” is to REDUCE that quality.
I have worked in the medical coding and billing services for 15 years, and within the past 5 - 10 years I can not think of one major (or even minor clinics) health organization that does not use electronic medical records.
My current job works with the VA system, along with some private hospitals and clinics and everyone of them totally depend on electronic medical records. These systems are not just their billing records, they are the total medical records. The only thing I could think of that describes the discrepancy of statistics is if they mean downloading to a national data base. The facilities I work for are totally self contained, they do not report the full records to any national database, just Medicare/insurance companies and to other facilities within their networks.
If the government insisted on mandatory EMR and really wanted to lower medical costs, the least they could do is provide standardized software to hospitals and clinics free. Better yet, they should also provide the hardware too. Small doctor offices can’t afford the kind of high tech goodies that hospitals have.
However, it adds about 25% more time per patient encounter, so if hours are kept constant (and in primary care, hours worked can't rise any more) patients seen will inevitably fall.
But who cares? If you actually SEE the patients, you are adding to health care costs. If they stay home, costs level off. If they die, costs go down.
You do the math.