you need to understand something, the medical profession is either divided 50-50 over EMR or more of them want it than don't. It is a real timesaver, is sometimes a lifesaver, makes a physician's work, especially in acute care settings, much more effective and efficient.
There are, however, ways to go about. Newt would undo the govt part of it, as it is still wafting around out there, is so burdensome and egregious, that it's not yet totally been implemented, and doctors are fighting the layers of it. Newt would have someone in the private sector do it... with patient security as the top factor. He describes it as, if you are in Germany, and you want money from your bank acct in America, you get it in the same amount of time that you would if you were at an ATM next door to your bank, and there is never any security compromised because of the hugeness of the network.
That's what he wants for docs. Fingertip access with huge patient safeguards and done privately. He doesn't want a database in govt hands, he just wants a database, there is a huge difference. And, as with most of Newt's proposals, he wants the patient to have the choice of opting out.
You santorum supporters have got to stop this, if for no other reason than your own personal integrity. You are still going to have to live with yourself when the election is over. Stop telling lies.
I keep being told that, but all his solutions head down the Govt' route every time. I read Contract with the Earth. This "Politik Wilsonian" is all about Govt' working efficiently instead of eliminating it. You don't tell people that FDR is the greatest President in the 20th century if you are not into this Progressive ideal.
Do you guys want to keep playing this tear down game? There isn’t a Santorum thread anymore without you guys coming in and going to town on our guy like it came straight from the talking points of MSNBC. What is the point to it from your perspective?
When I heard Newt talk on health care reform in '08 he was for pushing EMRs on everyone. One guy I trained with is retiring this year, at age 53, because he can't stand EMR. Another complains of the several hours a week they add to her tasks. Gripes about it seem to be the most popular subject at my state Dermatology meetings. In my specialty it's darn hard to see lifesaving business from it as darn few of our diseases are life threatening or even emergencies. I receive (printed) computer generated referral notes with 3 or 4 pages of useless information including stating skin was 'normal' - odd for a Dermatology referral! Speed in communication with colleagues, in either direction, isn't the top of my priority list. Having enough time left to see more patients and see them sooner, is a bigger priority! I can conceive of some potential time savings if I could dictate my notes directly and accurately into a chart but those I know well, who are doing similar things, tell me Dragon isn't ready for our prime time yet. I'm a solo practitioner so I can't divide the costs amongst partners. Dealing with computer problems is already one of my biggest time sinks. As the second generation in the practice I have, literally, 50 years of paper records. Should I throw them out? It's absurd to think of scanning them all, even just as they come back in. My paper charts are organized so I could throw out all who haven't been in in twenty years if storage becomes a problem, but I also have many I've been seeing for that long. Logically I should be one of the last to adopt EMRs even though I'm computer savvy.
If people want to do EMRs fine, but don't mandate them. Let the technology evolve organically as did the internet. As it becomes useful for them more folks will adopt it. Don't force everyone to adopt it based on some politician's wish or because some government or insurance bureaucracy politicians have empowered wish it. Shrink the dang bureaucracy with individually based health care models and payment models, like Santorum has been supporting for 20 years. At most the government should be developing data exchange standards. I wouldn't even grant them authority over data security as they always give themselves access to any data they want and I trust them with my health data less than any private security risks.