Electronic health records: hype?

Submitted by bizgrrl on Wed, 2009/01/14 - 7:39am.

Software "glitches" caused VA patients to receive "incorrect doses of drugs, had needed treatments delayed and may have been exposed to other medical errors".

"It's very serious potentially," said Dr. Jeffrey A. Linder, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who has studied electronic health systems. "There's a lot of hype out there about electronic health records, that there is some unfettered good. It's a big piece of the puzzle, but they're not magic. There is also a potential for unintended consequences."

The problem began in August, 2008, and lasted to December, 2008, while the VA elected to not disclose the problems.

I've been saying for a while that electronic medical records are not the savior for our health care system. Saves money, more accurate? Not necessarily. When it comes to banking, we are able to review all transactions related to our accounts. We know exactly how much we deposit and withdraw, most of us anyway. Health care is much more complex. Most of us have no idea what is written in our records. Nor is it easy to validate a correct dosage of drugs.

Within the last two years while visiting a doctor for an annual visit, the doctor asked me how my children were doing. I have no children. The doctor proceeded to explain they just went electronic with their medical records and a mistake must have been made. I tried to get assurances that my medical records would be corrected and that all other information would be validated.

What kind of confidence can anyone have with electronic medical records if the patient is unable to review all of the on-line data and the medical specialists do not follow-up to ensure the correct information is being communicated?


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13
vote

There's no doubt record
Submitted by Gary on Wed, 2009/01/14 - 8:18am.

There's no doubt record keeping of any kind will have problems, and that there is no one "cure-all" solution to the country's health care problems.

But in this day and age of travel and the ability to access immediate emergency medical care almost anywhere in the nation and a good many parts of the world, I would rather have my medical records electronically accessible than not.

Nervousness
Submitted by reform4 on Wed, 2009/01/14 - 10:31am.

Most people I've talked to are worried about insurance companies using the data to discriminate / rate policies. Before we do this, we need to have the resolve the risk pool issue.

Gotta start somewhere!
Submitted by BoB W. (not verified) on Wed, 2009/01/14 - 5:56pm.

1) I don't think electronic records were intended as a cure-all for the pitiful state of the health care industry in the USA.

2) As for electronic banking, I was a beta user of a rollout of an electronic banking system of a prominent local bank. It was far from perfect, but now is highly improved.

3) Electronic health records is an area where extreme accuracy is absolutely essential. Implementation of this kind of system should be left to only the very best of professionals in their field of expertise (such as you & Randy).

4) I see a good number of doctors on a regular basis. Mistakes such as the one you mentioned where your doctor erroneously identified you as a mother, happen fairly regularly to doctors who do not use any electronic records.

5) Absolute perfection is unattainable with ANY system.

6) Anything worthwhile is never easy.

Added on v. Built in
Submitted by ThresherK (not verified) on Wed, 2009/01/14 - 7:23pm.

I used to work in a hospital in IT.

I would be concerned about data security, first and foremost, as HIPPA (the healthcare privacy pole star) is all about keeping the network secure on the "inside" from access on the "outside". Extranets aside, security will be more "added on" than "built in".

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