Politico
Are electronic medical records providing doctors with too much information?
Of course, doctors have plenty of trouble tracking masses of test results on faxes and paper, too. The research letter does not address the rate at which providers missed or overlooked test result information when using solely paper records for patients.
But still, 87 percent of the health providers surveyed said they found the number of alerts to be “excessive.” And about 70 percent said they were getting more notifications than they found manageable, according to the research letter.
And those providers who said they received more notifications than they could handle were more likely to report missing some test results.
Blowback
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No sh!t. I find the constant “tests” of the emergency broadcast system on my TV to be excessive, stupid, and ridiculous. And then, they activated the system for a storm that never even got close to us. Typical government. I grew up with worse weather that never merited anything more than the wish that school would be closed the next day (which it VERY RARELY was).
As to medical information and the new government procedures … Anyone remember that overly creepy public service ad that used to run during the BarkyCare criminal legislative “process” that had the patient on a stage with his doctor and all the people in the audience jumping up and shouting out private information abotu his medical history – to his surprise and shock? I can’t find it on the net anymore but it was one of the creepiest things I can remember seeing. I would have thought that that, alone, would have been enough, as it showed what these control-freak ghouls really want …
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on March 5, 2013 at 8:57 PM
Making it even more exceedingly onerous to function as a doctor while also making it unprofitable is a sure fire way to improve health care.
forest on March 5, 2013 at 9:04 PM
Noticed that you never see your doc’s or assistants’ eyeballs since Obamacare? Healthcare providers are now forced to be so attentive to electronic documents that screens get priority over patient care. One of my docs told me that he thinks that his diagnostic skills have declined– he is dependent on observing and interacting with patients to uncover problems and his ability to do so is diminished.
I’ve also been advised by a physician to never admit to having more than sporadic 1-2 alcoholic drinks per weekend. More than that would place me in an alcohol abuse category under Obamacare.
Our family practitioner will likely go out of business or dramatically overhaul the practice this year. The practice has sustained financial losses for three consecutive years under Obamacare. All the good intentions in the world aren’t going to allow anyone to remain open without even a break-even. The decision is whether to close or go to concierge care. Either way, we’ll lose a doc and practice that we love. No way can we afford to pay not only our health insurance premiums and also pay the doc $3k per year per family member for healthcare. (We already have friends who lost their pediatrician when the practice changed to concierge care– the $6k per year on top of insurance is too much.)
We are rapidly becoming a two-tiered medical system. Those who have money will have great concierge care and will have access to needed services and procedures. The rest of us will be pushed into over-extended clinics with rationed care.
I liked it better when we all had access to quality care and could keep the docs we liked.
obladioblada on March 5, 2013 at 9:38 PM
And God forbid somebody entered something in there wrong – it takes 3 technicians and two months for somebody to undo the damage – if you’re lucky. When my son was born, the office switched over to electronic records 2 weeks later, and somebody clicked on “female” for gender. I cannot tell you what a nightmare it was to try to get it fixed. And, as “consolation” the doctor told me that I wasn’t the only person it had happened to!
Katja on March 5, 2013 at 9:47 PM
This survey was only of doctors using the government designed VA ehr system….
So what does this tell us other than the fact that the VA system bombards doctors with meaningless alerts? Not a damn thing. What an awful article.
There are much better more streamlined privately owned ehrs out there.
brandozilla on March 6, 2013 at 1:15 AM