Health Care
Thoughts: Electronic Medical Record
Meltdown
In the past I
have predicted the EMR focus of the Obama administration might not work as well
as intended. Sadly, and many billions of dollars later, I may be correct.
(The New York
Times has run many pieces on this, the latest on the hard copy business page on
1/11/2013.)
And next year
we make the ICD-10 conversation, sort of throwing gasoline on a raging fire.
There are a
multitude of problems:
Too many
vendor systems, making EMR to EHR linkages difficult
Crazy long
and complex federal regulations
The input
devices irritate physicians and disrupt the flow of the office practice
Medicare
thinks EMRs are inflating billings, due to text cloning and auto-coding
The hospital
and nursing home systems are often distractions to nursing
Going totally
paperless is largely a myth so far
HIPAA
security issues abound
So where will
EMRs work? Based on recent observations perhaps in very large integrated
systems where every provider is on the same system, although some of the front
line personnel are singing the same sad songs as others.
E-prescribing
may be one area with some success.
