Can EMRs Do More Harm than Good?
Apparently yes, according to this New York Times report:
Poorly designed, hard-to-use computerized health records are a threat to patient safety, and an independent agency should be set up to investigate injuries and deaths linked to health information technology, according to a federal study released Tuesday. The report by the Institute of Medicine comes as the government is spending billions of dollars in incentive payments to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records.
The Institute of Medicine committee also called for tracking the safety performance of electronic health records in use. Results from studies done so far, the report said, are mixed. Success stories are offset by reports of patients harmed. The advisory group recommended that electronic health record suppliers drop “hold harmless” clauses from their sales contracts. Such language often limits the freedom of doctors and hospitals to publicly raise questions about software errors or defects.
Despite the many potential benefits of EMRs, I agree that poorly conceived health IT systems can propagate medical errors. At the very least an EMR often results in poor communication between doctor and patient. If your doctor is struggling to find the right pull down menu, check the appropriate checkbox, if he or she is forced to ask questions in the order they appear on the computer screen, subtle signs might be missed that could have been detected absent the process of staring into a computer screen rather than the patient’s eyes. Linda Gorman and I coauthored a report on EMRs a year ago or ago.
Another example of a good thing ruined by government: i.e., we want a captive market, guaranteed prices and no chance that anyone can sue us if we screw up.
Off topic, but couldn’t think of anywhere else to post it; HSAs got an overview over at Lifehacker.
http://lifehacker.com/5860805/what-is-a-health-savings-account-and-should-i-use-one
Given that ObamaCare has dictated EMRs for all, we’re supposed to feel safer now that the Institute of Medicine is going to track the effect of EMRs on patient safety?
This is the same Institute of Medicine that claimed, without any data, that thousands of people die every year because they don’t have health insurance. It has also claimed that medical errors kill 98,000 people a year.
That claim was based on such soft data that Troyan A. Brennan, the author of one of the studies that the estimate was based on said:
“…neither study cited by the IOM as the source of data on the incidence of injuries due to medical care involved judgments by the physicians reviewing medical records about whether the injuries were caused by errors. Indeed, there is no evidence that such judgments can be made reliably.”[2]
He also characterized the IOM recommendations as “giv[ing] the impression that doctors and hospitals are doing very little about the problem of injuries caused by medical care…yet the evidence suggests that safety has improved, not deteriorated.”
I am agree that poorly designed/developed EMR can cause to turn the pros into cons for the patients and this has to be tested enough prior to using it. We are also an EMR developing company and have associated with certified POMAA venture. We strictly follow the test cases and research into every segment we dealt with!!!
Thanks,
Nafees Khaiser
http://www.mdconsultant.com
PS: website URL was wrong
I am agree that poorly designed/developed EMR can cause to turn the pros into cons for the patients and this has to be tested enough prior to using it. We are also an EMR developing company and have associated with certified POMAA venture. We strictly follow the test cases and research into every segment we dealt with!!!
Thanks,
Nafees Khaiser
http://www.mdconsultantus.com
And misplaced paperwork or a poorly designed file system kills too. Seriously?
If anything is poorly done, it will kill more than an adequate or well designed system. This has become ridiculous.