On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:41:36 -0500, dpb wrote:

Tim Douglass wrote:
...
The rationale behind electronic medical record keeping is not, and
never has been, about cost reduction. The entire reason behind it is
to reduce errors, improve diagnostics, speed administrative functions
and make records more accessible where they are needed. Any cost
factors are merely incidental.

I spent several years involved in the medical software industry about
20 years back. Even then all of these same issues were being
discussed, although not on the national stage. The goal was to find a
way to give better service, not necessarily cheaper service.
...
One wonders how many of these same players (and new ones) are making
large contributions to push the current agenda and did so during the
campaign...

Could well be, although few of those players had the kind of size and
reach to do any political activism.

Just an odd anecdote relating to electronic medical records. I have a
friend whose husband is a GP. He was actually voted state doctor of
the year a while back. The clinic he works in recently went to an
electronic system and he hates it. A big part of the problem is that
he is now expected to enter into the computer (something he is not
skilled at) all of the patient notes he previously scribbled on a
chart or dictated to a recorder. The result is that he only sees about
2/3 as many patients a day as previously.

OTOH, my personal GP, a younger (OK, still probably in his 50s) doctor
in a different clinic went to a computerized system at about the same
time. He absolutely loves it. He claims he sees more patients in a day
and gives better service. I will attest to the latter because he
always sees something now on the computer that prompts him to ask
about certain conditions that previously only got brought up if I
brought them up. Their billing is still sometimes a bit messed up,
but I like that all the lab orders and prescriptions are sent out
paperlessly and immediately.

The real point is that the human factor in the doctor's office may
have more to do with the effectiveness of any electronic system than
all the other factors.

Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com

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