So
What's the Big Deal About
Electronic Medical Records?
(Part 1)
Within the economic stimulus
plan, $17 billion have been
earmarked for moving American
healthcare to an electronic
medical record-keeping system
(EMRs). There are many benefits
to such a system, and quite a
bit of controversy, too.
How will EMRs benefit you?
Instead of inconsistent and
uncoordinated paper records
located in dozens of doctors’
offices and facilities, you will
have one medical record, and
that one record will be
available electronically to all
your providers. You’ll be able
to review and possibly amend
your own record from your home
computer or your phone 24 hours
a day.
When you visit a new specialist,
you won’t have to fill out page
after page of forms. Instead,
your new doctor will have the
information she needs at her
fingertips. Tests like CT scans
or MRIs won’t need to be
repeated because the films were
lost or their results misplaced.
A new cardiologist will be able
to see your entire history of
blood pressure readings or EKGs
instead of looking at today’s
readings only. Your doctors will
be able to see an identical list
of all the drugs you take,
reducing the chance for
conflicts with new
prescriptions.
Some patients are frustrated by
their inability to get one
doctor to coordinate their care
among all the doctors they see.
Sometimes the underlying problem
is that one doctor doesn’t have
the entire set of that patient’s
records to review. Access to a
patient’s EMR will make
coordination easier.
Suppose you are in an accident
while traveling out of town.
Emergency personnel will be able
to pull up your EMR to see what
your blood type is, or what
drugs you might be allergic to,
or if you have a heart condition
that needs attention through
emergency surgery, improving
your chances for successful
treatment.
Although expensive to implement,
in the longer run, electronic
medical records will be less
costly. Paper must be
manufactured, shipped,
delivered, stored, copied, and
filed. The use of electronic
records alleviates the need for
most of those tasks, saving time
and money.
One electronic medical record
per patient, amended by every
provider who treats us, should
mean higher quality, safer and
more efficient care for us all.
But as you might imagine, there
is plenty of controversy about
electronic medical records, too.
We’ll explore that in my next
column.
Return to Main List of
Columns
TOP
Trisha Torrey is
Every Patient’s AdvocateTM.
She offers no medical advice,
but empowers
those who
want to learn more about diagnosis and
treatment
options by
providing useful tools
and resources.
|
|
|
|
Return to
Main List of
Columns
|
|
Were you looking for
a different column?
These columns
rotate, and
sometimes search
engines don't keep
up with them.
All columns get
moved to the
Archives,
and you can access
them for
free by registering.
There may be an
update
to this
column.
Read Trisha's Blog!
Would you like to
be
notified when new
columns are
accessible? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trisha is the
Guide to
Patient Empowerment |
|
|
Publishers and
Editors:
if you would like to
include
this, or a similar
column
in your publication,
please inquire here. |
|
|
|
|
© 2008 Trisha Torrey
No material found in this
website
is to be reproduced without
expressed written consent of the
author.
|
|
