Newsletter
Politicians, Doctors, and Webmasters
A case study of Electronic Medical Records
- What is an ERM
- EMR and Politics
- Medical Industry Software
- Federal Grant Money
What is an Electronic Medical Record?
Most of us already grasp the basic technical concept of an Electronic Medical Record. Doctors store the data about the patient on the computer; instead of the file cabinet in the back of his office. Where things start to get complicated is exactly what is your medical record? Each doctor you use has the files they use to treat you. If one doctor needs to see the information from the other doctor you must release them (give your consent) so the one doctor’s office 1 can share your file with the doctor's office 2. For many years the preferred method was the fax machine.
Obviously in today’s world this seems a little silly. But before we dive more into the IT side of things, we need to review HIPPA.
EMR and Politics
Just about everyone that works in the heath care profession is familiar with HIPPA.HIPPA regulates who may see your medical records, and how health care providers are required to manage your records. At its most basic level, providers (like your doctor), cannot give out your information without your consent, except as needed to provide you medical service. HIPPA also regulates what security measures must be taken if you want to store and manage your patients on a computer system. You are required by law to take at a minimum specific steps.
Why is all of this so important? Your medical records are some of the most private and dangerous information about you. Nobody wants to hire somebody that is sick all the time. Many governments have complete control over the medical industry, there is zero privacy, and the government decides who gets treated for what, and when. While our heath care system has some serious problems, and is only partially market driven at best, it’s still not complete socialized medicine. One essential step in socializing a country’s medical care industry is digitizing the records and collecting all the data. One can argue that is why the Federal Government is making such a big push for EMR, one could also argue its for a better system for the Industry.
Like in most industries, providing Information services for the customer must always be accomplished in a secure and cost effective manner. With the case of medical information, a customer’s privacy is of great importance. So what is the first step?
The Good Stuff
Computers and software always improve business in the long run. The days of pen and paper are soon to be a thing of the past. No more rooms filled with file cabinets. No more faxing. Many doctors already use some sort of practice management software. In the ideal world your PHR (Personal Heath Record), will be secure, private, and you will have control and convenience to review and share your medical record with the heath care provider of your choice.
Interoperability and PHR (Personal Health Care Record)
The grand vision is that you will have something called your PHR. This will encompass data from many sources, including multiple EMR’s. That is any doctor (with your permission) and you would be able to access your full medical records easily. This is not the case these days. The push has started to connect all of these systems into a standardized format. It’s a complicated process that will take many years. On the consumer side, you can now create your PHR through services provided by Google and a few others.
Collaborative Research
The government and society at large has an interest is aggregating everyone's medical records. The data provided for research and planning could make a big difference in the quality of our country’s health care system. The key is can this data be harvested without using it as a punitive system to deny heath care, screen for jobs, and the other privacy issues?
You get what you pay for?
Why is pricing for Lasik eye surgery transparent and competitively priced? It’s not covered by most heath plans. It’s forced to stand out on its own, compete in the market place. Now, we obviously can’t have a totally “Free and Open” driven market for heart transplants (or any donor) program. There needs to be a better system to regulate access and cost.
Heath Care Industry Software
Practice Management software is already utilized in many doctors’ offices, even very small ones. At its most basic level it keeps track of appointments and contact information. These systems have been around for many years, and most of them are expanding their capabilities to store more all information like prescription, allergies, and treatment history among other things. The goal is that that all doctors' offices will still be in charge of maintaining their records, but this information then can also be transmitted to other computer systems, including any PHR you may or may not have.
Free Open Source and Major Commercial Providers
There is a good Wiki article with a list of the “Free Software” available for health care providers, There is a lot of it, and I have installed about 15 of them and looked at most of the websites on the list. There is a time and place for open source, and I’m not sure yet if this is it. There are also many commercial vendors with “paid” software systems available.
Wiki List of Open Source Medical Software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_healthcare_software
Some of the Most Popular Commercial Vendors.
Security vs. Convenience
It would be great if you were in charge of your medical records, and you could provide them to whomever, but in practice this isn’t how it typically works.
For instance Google has a service where doctors can upload their work, and then you have the ability to share this record with any other doctor. If you have complete faith in Google to store your data, then it seems like a pretty good idea.
Federal Grant Money
Round 1. Regional Grant Money
So here is a brief nuts and bolts overview of how the grant money is to work. As part of the economic stimulus bill, the federal government has awarded 5-15 million to about 100 agencies. The agencies are regional (and in many cases University affiliated) for the purpose of expanding their ability to collect and share EMR information. They are also in charge of distributing money to small physicians (typical an office under 10 employees), with a focus on the rural and general practice providers. The goal is to increase their use of Information Technologies, and the regions ability to utilize a PHR.
List of agencies Click Here
Other details of the Medical Reform Bill of 2010
For several months the coverage on this issue was intense. For most part it was filled with sound bites and talking points on traditional media stations. The entire system is complex; the details are important and difficult to understand. But ultimately you either believe health care is a privilege or a right. You believe in the Free Market or Socialized Managed care. The obvious answer is to find some middle ground. Some things should be a right. Some things should be a privilege. The real Politics isn’t fought on the TV cameras; it’s in the details of the legislation, which we are all free to read on-line.
References and More Reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_medical_record
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/02/20100212a.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_healthcare_software
Happy Customers | About Us | Customer Login | Contact Us
© copyright 1997 - 2010 all right reserved