quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
I see now that info is is recorded on computers.
Is the info just recorded just kept on site or entered in a big database?
If I go to a new doctor can they access all past info or do they have request it from past doctor(s)?

It's typically all in a big database. This might be on site at the hospital, or hosted by the EMR vendor somewhere.

Google "Meaningful Use".

I've been assisting with writing your medical data to disk for the last 17 years. We used to host the Cerner EMR in house, now it's hosted at/by Cerner in Kansas City. We just combined with another large hospital system, and they run Epic. We will eventually convert the Cerner side to Epic and at that time the entire huge hospital system's EMR will be hosted by Epic. I would love to see them try and revert to paper now though...

For some reason, EMR seems particularly prone to errors. A friend requested a copy of his discharge summary from a recent hospital. It described several things in his history that were totally false including a history of heart attacks. A printout I was given of my recent visits to a doctor described my weight as 275 lbs. While I am overweight, I'm not THAT overweight. If you wonder why your doctor spends less time with you now, it's because that time is now spent uploading your information into a computer, all at the insistence of non-medical bureaucrats.

quote:

Originally posted by rh:

quote:

Originally posted by Doc H.:
It's very convenient, and even safer, because medication lists are updated, treatment and visits are up-to-date, and an ER is likely to have access to this information as well - and patients can access their own records 24/7, and communicate with their healthcare organization.

Not even one clinician or hospital in the US have such complete medical information on me. Foreign entities do however.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc H.:
It's legible, and Lord knows many paper records are not.

Yeah, my pregnancy with identical twins showed up quite legibly on one of my many EHR's. I told that doctor that I found that to be funny, but he should correct the records since the pregnant woman would need that information in her medical records. He didn't. That "software glitch" caused some gender confusion problems during a surgery prep last year.

You are an "n" of one, and not representative of the entire population of patients or health records, although your own experience is important to you. The EHR is better in many ways compared to a piece of paper for the specific global universe of actual patient care, it's safer, and demonstrably produces better outcomes in multiple studies. I happen to agree though, with Para on most of his observations. I was a photographer in another life, but an early adopter of digital imaging. Many of my contemporaries said digital was a phase, would never be mainstream, and celluloid would always be superior in every way to electrons. They were partly right, and mostly wrong.

Electronic, digital health records are here to stay, and will replace physical health records in virtually every network, just as with banking, shopping, communicating, or being entertained. Mostly true right now. The clock will not turn back, absent the Apocalypse. Which event might not be a bad thing, you might sometimes think.

So your person health information is now more at risk globally than it ever was with a paper chart, not even arguably. As is your financial information, your shopping habits, your correspondence history and your location. You live in the swamp, as it is, right now. Check your electronic footprint, regularly and often. Don't give out any information not absolutely necessary you don't want the rest of the world to potentially know about. Because they will. Add any protection you can to your information, and keep it up to date. You may sleep with a Sig by your bed. Do the same thing electronically with your personal information.

Or, opposite direction, jump off the grid. Global information will improve your life, your convenience, and your safety. And potentially destroy it. My advice is, get comfortable with risk management.

Hell
go to VA
ask janitor for records
he - she will get then in minute

quote:

You didn't quote Para's contention that EHR's should be illegal. Based upon your prior posts, I think that you could explain this article to us What Providers Need to Know About EHR Mandates in 2018. My basic understanding is that providers will not receive full compensation for Medicare and Medicaid unless they used EHRs. I'm on neither program, I'm just curious. (And of course I invite anyone to explain the current situation as well.)

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This is correct. I will take the financial hit. The EHR was pushed by the government. I will stick with my paper records. I had my DNR scanned into my medical record. Since it was done three years ago it was not accessible in the hospital EHR.

The EHR is even worse when transcribed by Dragon Speak. {The voice recognition software}. BTW people tend to get highly indignant when the physician appears to be treating the computer rather than the patient.