Attend to EHRs so we can attend to patients, physicians say

The burden of meaningful use regulations and the associated problems with electronic health record (EHR) technology has plagued physicians for far too long. At the 2015 AMA Interim Meeting, physicians took action with the goal of removing these hindrances to physicians’ ability to provide quality care to patients. EHR interoperability is crucial to certification process Policy was adopted concerning shortcomings in EHR interoperability. The meaningful use program offers powerful financial incentives and disincentives for physicians but does not do so for EHR vendors. Meanwhile, most EHR systems fail to satisfy physician users. Additionally, some hospitals are requiring physicians to use specific brands of EHRs when those physicians already have invested in other EHR products. The fact that a lot of these different products do not work together has put many physicians in a financial bind. Should they purchase two EHR products? Three? Being able to share patient information and data seamlessly should be possible across EHR products. Physicians called for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to prioritize EHR interoperability, data portability and health IT data exchange testing. The AMA will work with EHR vendors to promote transparency of actual costs of EHR implementation, and CMS and ONC to identify barriers and solutions to data blocking so that physicians and hospitals have more options for purchasing, donating, subsidizing or migrating to...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news