Checking Boxes

By HANS DUVEFELT MD  I pay $500 per year for UpToDate, the online reference that helps me stay current on diagnostic criteria and best treatment options for most diseases I might run into in my practice. They also have a rich library of patient information, which I often print out during office visits. I don’t get any “credit” for doing that, but I do if I print the, often paltry, patient handouts built into my EMR. That was how the rules governing meaningful use of subsidized computer technology for medical offices were written. If I describe in great detail in my office note how I motivated a patient to quit smoking but forgot to also check the box that smoking cessation education was provided, I look like a negligent doctor. My expensive EMR can’t extract that information from the text. Google, from my mobile device, can translate between languages and manages to send me ads based on words in my web searches. When I do a diabetic foot exam, it doesn’t count for my quality metrics if I freetext it; I must use the right boxes. If I do it diligently on my iPad in eClinicalWorks, one of my EMRs, even if I use the clickboxes, it doesn’t carry over to the flowsheet or my report card. Not only are these things annoying and part of the mounting overall frustrations of being a doctor, or PA/Nurse Practitioner, today. They are also misguided; I may document a foot exam or provide a disease specific handout, but then what? Our primitive technology can’t automatically ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Patients Physicians EMR Hans Duvefelt primary care Source Type: blogs