Many people ask why the United States, unlike other countries, has no national system of electronic medical records.
Here’s why:
Insert the number 576 instead of 14, by the way. Each of which represents a significant enterprise of coders, quality control, testers, sales and support staff, and everything else associated with a business enterprise, likely accounting for several hundreds of thousands of jobs that our sputtering economy could ill afford to throw by the wayside (at least politically). As has been pointed out numerous times, one man’s waste is another’s revenue stream.
(Oh, and apropos of nothing in particular, it turns out this is my 1000th blog post. Not bad, with my 4th blogiversary coming up next month.)
Even in lovely organised Sweden are there at least 6 different EMRs – for a population of nine million with a government funded health system – amazing.
By: swedoz on July 20, 2011
at 4:05 pm
I think there is another issue at work here as well. With a national system of electronic medical records, the potential and extreme likelihood for abuse by the government is a big factor. My medical records are no one’s business by my doctor & I. With that system in place, we would inevitably loose that privacy.
By: Simon Jester on July 20, 2011
at 7:39 pm
Still looking forward to some comments on your EMR experience.
By: southern doc on July 21, 2011
at 8:25 am
Here in Britain we’ve spent several billions of pounds trying to create a nationwide electronic medical records system and haven’t got much to show for it.
By: Anonymous on July 21, 2011
at 1:27 pm
In the US it makes typed records make it easier for the insurance companies and Medicare to audit the records. Lawyers also like the nicely typed records.
EMRs are not saving money. Records/studies/EKGs/consultant notes etc. all have to be scanned into the electronic system. The archive of 5 or more years of records gets pretty large. Annual update and usage fees also add to the cost. God forbid there is a power outage and the office comes to a standstill.
By: solofp on July 24, 2011
at 8:59 pm