| Peter Naismith called his physician in his Akron | | | | to be quoted publicly mention forgetting to tell the |
| office thirty-seven times during a five-day span | | | | doctor about past conditions and therefore getting |
| to retrieve his medical records. "I needed them to | | | | the wrong medication, or filling out medical forms |
| get an MRI," the 53-year-old Naismith asserts. | | | | until their fingers ache. But as the ghost of the |
| "The receptionist kept putting me off because | | | | Christmas future once said pointedly in the pages |
| my doctor still has paper files," he says, "It's my | | | | of A Christmas Carol -- "It doesn't have to be |
| contention that they couldn't find them. I suspect | | | | this way, my dear Mr. Scrooge." Indubitably it |
| that my records were lost somewhere in their | | | | doesn't. Even a recent survey published in The |
| office." Naismith works as a police officer and is | | | | New England Journal of Medicine reported that |
| familiar with electronic record-keeping. "All of our | | | | doctors who control patient management |
| criminal files are computerized and easy to find. | | | | electronically attest that such record-keeping helps |
| Why couldn't they have done that with my | | | | improve the quality and the timeliness of care. |
| medical records? I told my doctor to get rid of | | | | Besides improving care, going paperless also |
| the paper files and he just tried to laugh it off. I | | | | reduces errors and is playing an increasing role in |
| wasn't in the mood for laughing as I might have a | | | | cost containment - the very object of Obama's |
| tumor, and without my records, the hospital won't | | | | health care reform in the first place. |
| do the MRI.'' | | | | But there's also a financial incentive. According to |
| While Naismith's predicament isn't that unusual, | | | | the mandate now in place, physicians in |
| fortunately it's becoming less common. A dramatic | | | | compliance by January 1, 2011 (well before the |
| transition to EMR software packages is already | | | | 2014 cut-off date) are eligible for reimbursement |
| occurring in physician's offices all across America in | | | | for purchases of EMR software packages if they |
| anticipation of the U.S. Congress spending $17.2 | | | | purchase a federally certified package, and can |
| billion in stimulus monies devoted to the now | | | | establish 80% usage in their practices. Considering |
| mandated move to paperless. | | | | that there's a three to six month learning curve in |
| Naismith's physician still scribbles prescriptions on | | | | the transition (unless the physician is also a |
| tiny scrip sheets that can easily get lost and are | | | | computer whiz) the rush to buy compliant |
| difficult to read because, according to Naismith, | | | | packages is already on. The digital world of |
| "The guy writes like a first-grader who needs to | | | | record-keeping beckons. |
| get his knuckles rapped." Other patients unwilling | | | | |