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This report originally appeared in the March 2010 issue of DOTmed Business News
Electronic Medical Records (EHRs) have been in and out of popular discussion for many years. An EHR is nothing more than a digital version of a patient health record. Patient health records have existed for decades and can be traced back to the 19th century when hospitals began to be prevalent in major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
Over the decades, the patient health record was viewed as a way to improve patient care. For this record-keeping to be beneficial beyond billing and collections a doctor needed access to the written record. With paper records this is a large and complex request and requires that the patient present for treatment at the same institution and even with the same physician if there is to be a consistency of record-keeping. For most people, this doesn't happen. We move about, go to different facilities and different doctors. Our records get spread everywhere.
For EHRs to work there must be a single system. It must request the same information of all. It must be available 24/7, 365-days a year to all qualified health care outlets in the nation. The patient's information must be current and available on the Web.
What will we need to do beyond the mere spending of billions of tax dollars to make this happen? The system has to be specified and built. As I recall, the Internal Revenue System and the Federal Aviation Administration also tried to implement new IT systems to modernize and both failed after years of effort and hundreds of millions of dollars spent.
How is this different? IRS and the FAA are single government agencies that failed at upgrading systems and increasing efficiency. Now we are asking private insurance companies, public and private hospitals, clinics and all patients, pharmacies and state and local medical agencies to cooperate in a venture that demands they relinquish their sovereignty to the group and accept standardization of the reporting process. Does this sound straightforward?
In addition, to make this work, everyone must have a government-issued health care card and agree to release all records to the Web. Last and not least someone has to maintain a secure Web access portal for all health care providers.
Implementing EHRs across the Country is an enormous task which will demand the cooperation of public and private entities far beyond that which they are used to today. Perhaps EHR implementation will slip by. However, judging from the results of the first round of legislated health care reform, I'm sure this will be an uphill battle.
