http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/12/health-bankrupt-healthcare.html Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:18:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/12/health-bankrupt-healthcare.html#comment-121562 Anon Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:00:05 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=41679#comment-121562 1) Certified EHR (c-EHR) systems don’t intercommunicate: You're spot on about the added costs on small physicians' offices here. If the govt. doesn't bankroll this difference, they will be creating enemies among doctors whom they should be trying to recruit as allies. How can you expect doctors to support EMRs when it adds this much extra work and cost for as of yet unproven increases in quality? If they don't incentivize these physicians towards the EMR, it will never work. The issue about interoperability of EMRs - I've grappled with this too but I don't think it's that big of an issue. The world is not for a loss of software engineers who can work on "middle-man" programs between different EMRs - in fact, engineers already do these things to generate interoperability between Macs and PCs, or various other types of programs. The main choice here is: Should the govt. mandate one type of EMR for all offices and thereby stifle innovation, or should they allow a free market of sorts for a while, so that the best EMRs ultimately win out and then leave it to the software engineers to develop interoperability? It seems they've chosen the latter, even though this isn't a true free market. But the point is, interoperability ultimately won't be a major problem once engineers have set out to creating middle man programs. 1) Certified EHR (c-EHR) systems don’t intercommunicate: You’re spot on about the added costs on small physicians’ offices here. If the govt. doesn’t bankroll this difference, they will be creating enemies among doctors whom they should be trying to recruit as allies. How can you expect doctors to support EMRs when it adds this much extra work and cost for as of yet unproven increases in quality? If they don’t incentivize these physicians towards the EMR, it will never work.
The issue about interoperability of EMRs – I’ve grappled with this too but I don’t think it’s that big of an issue. The world is not for a loss of software engineers who can work on “middle-man” programs between different EMRs – in fact, engineers already do these things to generate interoperability between Macs and PCs, or various other types of programs. The main choice here is: Should the govt. mandate one type of EMR for all offices and thereby stifle innovation, or should they allow a free market of sorts for a while, so that the best EMRs ultimately win out and then leave it to the software engineers to develop interoperability? It seems they’ve chosen the latter, even though this isn’t a true free market. But the point is, interoperability ultimately won’t be a major problem once engineers have set out to creating middle man programs.

]]> http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/12/health-bankrupt-healthcare.html#comment-121461 jsmith Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:21:24 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=41679#comment-121461 Yup, Dr. Borges gets it. Unfortunately those in charge of medicine these days do not. Yup, Dr. Borges gets it. Unfortunately those in charge of medicine these days do not.

]]> http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/12/health-bankrupt-healthcare.html#comment-121337 Aggravated DocSurg Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:35:42 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=41679#comment-121337 The <b>EM</b>pero<b>R</b>, as they say, has no clothes. The EMperoR, as they say, has no clothes.

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