According to a survey from Medical Group Management Association, about 61% of respondents said, they view selecting and implementing an electronic health record system is an extreme challenge. Imagine a future where a patient walk through a doctor's office or hospital, and don't need to fill a paper form or won't find a paper chart lying around, almost entirely paperless. 92% of the hospitals in US don't have a paperless system and remaining 6-7% have disintegrated paperless system. After patients make an appointment, they provide services, collect lab results, bill the insurance company or the government, and move on to the next patient.
With the $19 billion from Obama stimulus package to digitize health records, lots of major questions are still unanswered. Though most experts believe that $19 billion is only a down payment on what it will really take to digitize American hospitals. Does spending equal efficiency? Yes, it is if people need less treatment because electronic records help prevent duplicate tests or enable doctors to spot issues sooner. As Obama said, "We're working to computerize medical records because right now too many folks wind up taking the same tests over and over and over again because their providers can't access the previous results," adding, "Or they have to relay their entire medical history, every time they see a new provider. Electronic medical records will help to put an end to all that." Sounds simple but not easy though.
Successful digitization requires an overhaul of the entire health system and reinvention of the industry itself with insurance companies on one side and doctors and patients on the other side. It's nasty tug of war between government, doctor-patients and insurance companies and without a significant change in policy we cannot go any farther. Plugging the holes in the current system won't improve anything in the long run. Digitizing the whole country's medical records could be a monumental task and may need a commitment of an entire decade, and as a nation, our attention span is not that lengthy.
So, the end goal is to improve care at reduced costs, provide health coverage to broader population, early detection and preventive care. The big questions to ask? Do we have enough skilled health informatics professional, or the right policies in place or do we have the unified standards for interoperability or enough funding available or is there a successful model that can be implemented or what are the core ethics and security issues?
This is my first ever blog which will focus on how internet changes the fundamental dynamics of health care, the way people think about health care. Here I would like to share my thoughts and opinion. I would like to hear from you and feel free to comment anytime.
I am from San Francisco Bay Area and this is my second course in the Health Informatics Certificate program and so far I have been enjoying the program. This program also gave me an opportunity to know some knowledgeable people in the field of Health Informatics and going forward I am looking to learn more from all of you.
From educational background perspective, I have a BS and MS in Electrical & Electronics Engineering but I have been working in the Software Industry for last 11 years in the area of Software Development, Testing and Product Support. To me Health Informatics is all about storing, managing and retrieval of data efficiently & effectively which can improve the overall quality of health care, reduce cost and provide decision support. I am looking forward to get involved in this area and contribute to build the next generation of EMR/EHR!
