When I lived in Maryland, my doctor (actually a PA) was part of the Johns Hopkins Health System and they moved to an electronic medical records system years ago and I liked it as well.
After they moved to an electronic system, I found it took less time in the waiting room waiting to be seen. My “doc” could easily see what Rx’s were due to be refilled as the EHR system prompted him and when proscribing, he could also link to my insurance company’s drug schedule to see if that particular Rx was covered or if there was a more affordable generic available, even telling me what my co-pay was for any particular Rx. And when he refilled or wrote a new Rx, he sent the Rx electronically to the pharmacy of my choice (I was using Target Pharmacy at the time) and by the time I got there, it had been filled and was waiting for me and I liked that a lot – no taking a handwritten Rx, dropping it off and waiting or coming back later to pick up. And if I had any tests done, either a routine test like a mammogram or for a diagnosis like blood tests, if they were done by a Johns Hopkins provider, the test results were sent, almost instantaneously to the doc and added to my e-record, no waiting for snail mail, no need for someone to transcribe and handwrite into my chart. And if I had needed to be admitted to the hospital, my complete records were on their system as well, no waiting for them to be photocopied and sent.
As stevestras said, “the HiTech Act happened under Bush and I believe, Clinton before him. It was simply signed by Obama”. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) was created by Executive Order in 2004, it was legislatively mandated in the ARRA in 2009.
http://www.hitechanswers.net/about/about-the-hitech-act-of-2009/
As I understand the HiTech Act is “supposed” to provide standards and certifications for EHR systems and ensure those systems are HIPAA compliant to ensure the integrity and privacy of personal health information.
http://www.hitechanswers.net/ehr-incentive-program/hipaa-and-security-compliance/
Now I’m not saying that the HiTech Act accomplishes all their stated goals or that it is Federal (our) money well spent or that health care providers should be compelled to switch to EHR’s or that I necessarily trust the government, but overall I have to say my experiences with EHR’s has been good.
FWIW, I used to work in the third party health insurance enrollment and premium billing and later in COBRA administration and am currently in corporate HR, so I know a bit about HIPAA and how I cannot access any claims information unless the employee signs a limited release, a limited POA to discuss a specific claim for a limited time period, what insurance companies and 3rd party administrators and employers have to do to comply with HIPAA and the electronic transmission of claims data and even demographic data, which IMO is a good thing. HIPAA is cumbersome but also makes it very difficult to obtain personal health information unless one is specifically authorized to do so.
That is a fantastic post and delineates better than I could ever have a well functioning electronic medical records system.
The problem is for individuals or small groups unwilling or unable to participate. The fact is, their day is over. The scope of modern medicine is so broad, going alone in a practice simply can’t be tolerated by the evolving systemic change.
Fast forward ten years. Unionized government doctors and healthcare.
What you describe is great if it was kept out of the evil hands of government who will use that information “for our own good”.
All the advantages you mentioned occur only if the systems communicate. They don’t. Also, again you mentioned how much the doc does to keep the info flowing. Abstracting charts is done poorly by most people so when you request the records they are frequently out of place. BTW, I’m not in the VA system and to look at VA records I have to have the records printed off and it’s extremely volumonous just for the most simple of records.
Again, I’m not saying that EHR won’t work but it is many upgrades from being useful to busy practives. That’s not to say the tests etc. aren’t better electronically. They are. But all tests are not linked to exery system and therefore must be scanned into the chart. That’s not useful.