Markle Study: 80% of Doctors and Patients Want EMR and Privacy Protection
Astoundingly, while House Republicans are drafting bills to rescind the HITECH Act and eviscerate "meaningful use", roughly 80% of doctors and patients agree that it is important to have EMRs and to protect privacy.
One hopes and believes that with the Senate and the President protecting HITECH that we have at least until 2013 to implement what I feel is the most important program in healthcare today.
If your goal is to improve patient care and reduce cost, nothing will have more impact than HITECH and meaningful use which won't happen without the stimulus funds.
I am fortunate to belong to what I believe will become a model program for healthcare delivery.
I have had Kaiser in Northern California for almost a decade and the strides that they have made in patient communication are commendable. I routinely have email conversations with my doctor which saves me the time and trouble of visits and of course saves the provider money also.
I order my prescriptions online and have them delivered by mail. When I have tests done they are available the same day and of course I can look at my complete history of tests to see the trends. I make my appointments on-line.
And, of course, any Kaiser doctor can see my complete medical history for the last decade on-line. I can also get a thumb drive with my history to carry with me when I travel.
I am sure there is much more available to me but these are the things I use routinely. What is also interesting is that now this is all available to me through Medicare (yes, I am that old) so my costs are roughly $125 dollars a month including dental and eye care through the Advantage program.
The Markle Study can be found here:
Cross-posted form Compliance Helper
