The article I read was called “Dell Service to Help Hospitals with Digital Records” by Lance Whitney. The article is about how Dell is offering a new affordable service to help doctors and hospitals switch from their medical records on paper to electronic medical records. This electronic medical records system will connect doctors and their hospitals so they can share patient information, coordinate care for the patient, and cut costs. If a doctor or hospital purchases this service, Dell will install the hardware and software, offer training to the staff on how to use the software, and provide a 24/7 support service. Having electronic medical records will decrease health care costs for consumers, companies and the government. Also from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed, there are financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to have useful electronic medical record system in the next few years.
In America today, President Obama and the U.S. government are trying to figure out how to provide national healthcare to its citizens. However, this is a very complicated and costly process. One way to fix the problems with national healthcare is for care providers to switch from medical records on paper to electronic medical records. Having digital forms makes providing care much more efficient for care providers. Dell may not be the best electronic medical record provider, but it gives doctors and hospitals more options to choose from. This is a new industry forming and I believe as more companies like Dell create this new software the industry will have more competition which will create a more effective more affordable electronic medical records system. In the article, there is a recent March 2009 survey by the New England Journal of Medicine which discovered that less than 20 percent of doctors and less than 10 percent of hospital have just a basic form of electronic medical records system. This needs to change. Doctors and hospitals need to accept the fact that digitizing healthcare is inevitable and need to make the switch very soon.
Earlier this year, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 17 which provides 17 billion dollars worth of financial incentives for physicians or hospitals proving “meaningful use” of an electronic medical records system. However, right now there is a gray area of what “meaningful use” actually is. None the less, this act will speed up the painful process of switching to electronic medical records, and it will also bring us closer to having a fully functional and efficient healthcare system.
The healthcare industry needs companies to research and develop these information technologies to find the most efficient way to digitize healthcare. With this information, these companies should create new hardware and software to assist doctors and hospitals switch to electronic medical records. I believe the healthcare industry needs multiple companies to invest in developing these information technologies to digitize medical records. This would be most effective because it creates more competition within the industry. Companies will want to offer the most affordable and most effective product on the market.
I think it is generally accepted that in the next decade all hospitals and physicians will be using an effective electronic medical records system. However, right now we should focus more on finding the most efficient way to reach this goal. The road ahead for digitizing health care is going to be rough, but we need to face it now rather than wait.
I have always thought or assumed for that matter, that all hospitals were on electronic medical records, that statement that only 10 percent have just the basics freaked me out a little bit. The article was really interesting, giving information such as the hospitals trying to catch up with the modern age, the American Recovery and Reinvestment act and its part in giving money to help the health care industry, all expanded my world just a little bit by reading this. It’s going to be interesting in the coming years if hospitals take advantage of these new systems, how many lives will truly be affected by these information systems and even lives could be saved as a result.
ReplyDelete