Former ONC Director David Blumenthal (Inadvertently?) Honest About EHRs in USA Today Story

USA Today has published a story on health IT difficulties.  Read it in its entirety; it is fairly balanced, though mild, e.g., it omits mention of the ECRI Deep Dive study on patient harms (http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2013/02/peering-underneath-icebergs-water-level.html) and other actual reports of patient harm.  (I was one of many who spoke to the reporters about this story.) Feds move into digital medicine, face doctor backlashLaura Ungar and Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAYFeb. 1, 2015   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/01/backlash-against-electronic-medical-records/21693669/I am only going to make one point about it, that being the candor (in a manner I'm reasonably certain was not intended) of former ONC Director Dr. David Blumenthal:... David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology for President Obama from 2009 to 2011, says, "the threat of penalties is the only incentive (doctors) have to make it [the adoption of healthcare IT] happen."I don't think the candor was meant in the way I am about to interpret it, but I agree with his assessment.The threat of Medicare penalties is indeed "the only incentive" (doctors) have to make "it" happen, because the technology is not helping them, and is making their work harder and more risk- and liability-prone.  But don't take that from just me:... A group of 37 medical societies led by the American Medical Association sent a letter to Health and Human Services la...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Management Tags: David Blumenthal healthcare IT difficulties healthcare IT dissatisfaction Source Type: blogs