Electronic Health

While hardly anyone understood what impact the transition of electronic medical records would have on them in past now almost everyone realizes that it is a reality and like most things both good and bad go together.   I have heard many people tell me they like that they can now get their lab and test results on line.  It is quick and convenient.  They like that their record is more portable among doctor’s offices, but they don’t quite understand when records from competing hospital networks can’t talk to each other (that problem is supposed to change in the next couple of years based on legislative mandate but implementation of if it is still an enigma).  There are several things people don’t like as well.  Doctors now routinely complain that they spend more time (upwards of 50% of their total work day) treating electronic charts rather then patients.  People in doctors offices just see longer wait times (often much longer).  No one likes that.  Some people even understand that since so much more time is required for electronic chart compliance that less appointments are available.  That means access is getting harder.  It is just not possible to see as many patients as were seen in the past and comply with all the government regulations.   It isn’t even possible to comply with all of the regulations if no patients are seen.  Almost everyone today knows of a doctor who retired or quit medicine early in order not to have to deal with it. Doctors who are still plugging away it are worried.  There is a new mountain of  coding, filing rules, and regulations that starts October 1st and no one knows what to do (and if they did it is so mammoth that they fear they can’d do it anyway). The list goes on.  As we start our process of converting to a new electronic health record this month (we have been preparing for it for well over a year) we hope that our patients understand that we are still trying to do our best to make them a priority but in the end there is nothing we can do about it.   Things will take longer.  Please bear with us.