Electronic Medical Records Software Blog

Have you head the hub bub in the blog community just recently about the PHR controversy?  Seems like HIMM’s CEO publicly questioned PHR’s (Public Health Records) as lacking in trust from the medical community.  Another blog decried the comment “ …{Mr Leiber from HIMSS} should provide full disclosure that HIMSS receives a boat-load of money from the EMR vendors that have a lot to loose should records begin migrating beyond the four walls of a hospital. First, it will force the issue of interoperability, something EMR vendors are loathed to adopt for like any other industry, interoperability gives the buyer choices and easier paths for migrating from one system to another. Also, these vendors are beginning to offer their own tethered-PHR, which is simply a consumer-centric EMR portal to their records. A PHR that resides outside of the EMR limits their market opportunity.

It appears that Leiber and the EMR companies fear that Google and Microsoft will launch a fully-featured EMR/PHR combo that will deliver both value and functionality. Microsoft already has an EMR product in the market.  Both of these companies already have released or announced plans for providing a public portal for Personal Health Records.

Where does this put the Physician?  Smack dab in the middle of the controversy if you ask me, but then, thats where they should be, they should not capitulate and let business or government dictate the outcome of this controversy.

What happens when the government “pays” for an EMR software system thru public funding or taxes? Will they be able to get a “free” peek at the records whenever they want to? What if a local county government hospital raises tax dollars to pay for a county wide EMR solution for hospitals and physicians, who gets a “free peek” at the info?

If a community health record system is available in a community, who controls access? Lets face it, just about any employee in a doctors office gets access to the EMR software, but what happens when you have a whole community wide database and a disgruntled male employee wants to see the “pregnancy” test results for his girlfriend or wife and bribes a friend who works in another doctors office to log onto the community portal and check results?

Alot of issues to be worked out here… don’t have all the answers, but safeguards need to be in place and penalties for violating improper access to the information that most Americans feel very private about.

Seems like the state of Vermont, in its “infinite” wisdom, is attempting to tax medical claims to help pay for a pilot project to implement electronic medical records software in the state.

Its not clear how the “tax” will work, if it will be added by the doctors and hospitals to the patients bill, or if it will be a tax to the doctors and hospitals.

Bad, bad, bad from my thinking.  First of all we are “taxing” the sick to pay for something that will benefit everyone. Secondly, I don’t want the Federal or State government getting involved in dictating what an Electronic Medical Record will look like or influence the decision making of the private doctor.  Lastly, the system proposed for Vermont, doesn’t adequately address “privacy” concerns (if the state helps fund and pay for the software, do they get a “free” peek at the records whenever they want? Or would they need a court order to view it?  What are the punishments for privacy infringement?).  This is BAD public policy as far as I’m concerned.

This Electronic Medical Records Software Blog will cover many issues facing small doctor practices in todays healthcare marketplace. Statistics show that 70-80% of current physicians are either in solo practice or in a group smaller than 5 doctors. This is the target doctor we work with and support with our consulting practice and with our software solutions.

Feel free to post questions here that you may have concerning adoption or purchase of EMR or EHR software for your medical practice. Questions can range for how do I decide what electronic health record software is best for me; what issues will I face in implementing the software, to what company canI trust to be around for the long haul?

Welcome, we’ll be blogging about Electronic Medical Records software (EMR); industry trends; news; and tips and tricks to simplify your medical practice.