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Final Blog Post: Electronic Health Records

Introduction The goal of this projection was to pinpoint the underlying issues that harm EHRs, and prevent them from their ultimate goal of making it easier for us to have knowledge of our own health. One of the biggest issues is the lack of interoperability between different EHR systems. The best way to transfer data currently is by e-mailing over a PDF, and then manually entering the data into the new system. With the amount of revenue that these companies pull in (Cerner $2.67B, Epic $1.5B), it makes sense why they wouldn't want interoperability. However, that's not in the best interest of the consumer, so something needs to change. Data Sources Starting with Dr. Ampel, who's 30 year career, spanning the V.A., Banner, and Mayo Clinic, gives him a great insight on how EHRs have changed over time and how they can be improved. He has also given me access to co-workers of his. Further, I surveyed patients and nurses (shoutout to Tinder for matching me with one). They ga
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How to Improve Electronic Health Records

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  Problem When a patient needs to switch doctors or hospitals, their electronic health records have to go with them. These documents come to the doctor usually in the form of a PDF. This PDF contains all the information on a patient, which is usually around 30 pages for an adult, but can easily balloon into 50-60 pages. Many pages are a waste, as they provide regulatory and billing information, instead of information regarding the patient’s health. This wastes time for doctors, who just have to sift through dozens of pages of useless information, and then input it into their own system. This problem is compounded by both doctors and patients, who would prefer that this information was more readily accessible in the system so that the doctor can spend more time focusing on patient care, instead of on data entry. Secondly, studies show that since electronic health records became extremely common, the number of malpractice claims skyrocketed. From 2007 to 2010, the numb
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New Developments in EHR Data Transparency

Epic, Cerner, CVS align with Surescripts to make personalized prescription benefit, pricing info available in EHRs Six different EHR vendors have revealed a collaborative project to show more data about prescription benefits / pricing at the point of care. This directly relates to my semester project on how to improve electronic health records, as it shows that collaboration is hugely possible. The companies say the new changes will be implemented as soon as next year, which in the healthcare field is extremely quick for new changes. The trial run for this system has been ongoing throughout 2017, and saw use in 3.75 million transactions.
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Doctors Think Electronic Health Records Are Hurting Their Relationships With Patients In furthering our discussions about Electronic Health Records, I thought I would share this article I came across during my research. Doctors spend too much time sifting through computer screens and pdf files, instead of interacting with patients. There's no eye contact or any semblance of personal interaction. The job has simply become data entry, instead of providing care.
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