[Harrison]

Deborah,

You’re funny and have a good command of the English language. But I hope I never meet you and your trusty Glock in a dark alley…unless you tell me a good joke before you kill me. Oops, I almost forgot you are Texan….shoot first, tell jokes later…

On this computerized medicine thing, I try to read different magazines to note the trends in how various pubs are covering changes in the biomedical area that affect us as patients. It’s an impossible chore. Conveniently, Time magazine published a recent article that got me thinking a bit more about this issue and it codified my thinking and concerns about EMR. After I read this article, it helped me decide against the EMR initiative endorsed by our new president.

There’s a long list of reasons; here are just a few:

• HIPPA was an expensive headache for patients and doctors, even though IT consultants still love it. Why can’t we learn from past mistakes?!
• $50 billion dollars goes to whom? What’s the problem we are solving, but more importantly, what others will result?
• Dr. Haig eloquently expresses many other worthy concerns. After reading his take, I’ll say it my way about the future implications of EMR: take diagnostic & treatment choices away from patients and doctors and give them to…..insurance companies!

This doctor knows how the system works. And how it doesn’t. So please, please read this short article and comment when you can.

Wrong Prescription
By Scott Haig, M.D.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1887841,00.html

Related article:
Electronic Health Records: What's Taking So Long?
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1887658,00.html