Is That a Hairball?

Links Added 09/01/09

Some call it your "medical information," but as Dave deBronkart (ePatient Dave) found when he (publicly) explored the contents of his "medical record," it looked more like a cat had coughed up a hairball.

Confession #1

I've written a little about electronic medical records and health records (EMRs and EHRs) and provided some information resources. Now would be a good time to make a confession. It's not my confession, though. I am confessing on behalf of the health care providers and insurance companies who have been using EMRs for billing purposes instead of providing quality health care.

You Thought EMRs Were for Medical Data?

Well, in theory. That's what you would think. EMR stands for electronic medical record, after all. The truth is, EMRs are primarily used for billing ($) purposes. Sure, some patient information is thrown in there from time to time, like if you're lucky, your potentially fatal medication allergy.

Confession #2

The US health care system is, except for a few exceptions, a business. The US health care system, as a whole, is driven by money and profit, rather than helping people be healthy. Unless something significant changes, your tax money, via the most recent "stimulus" bill is about to be spent on the world's largest hairball.

Strangely, the health care system more or less claims it can't figure out how to use and transfer data that's relevant to your health care. The problem is, this is the same health care system that has perfected the art of billing and collecting your medical expenses and debt.

Confession #3

Word on street in Washington, DC is that the thing we call a "health care system" wants to know how much we are going to pay "it" to figure out how to meaningfully use and transfer our health data. It's time for the bright people in DC to figure out how to uh, how shall I say this...essentially bribe health care providers and EMR vendors to "figure out" how to apply what they know about billing to providing meaningful health care.