Will Money Spent For Electronic Medical Records Go To Waste?

Will Money Spent For Electronic Medical Records Go To Waste? in General Healthcare

When it comes to electronic medical records, there’s a near consensus that it’s a good idea. We say “near” consensus because it now seems that some are wary of investing in the technology.

Why?

For starters, it’s the way the funding for electronic records is defined in the new economic stimulus as written by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the bill, doctors are eligible to receive bonus Medicare payments if they use electronic records in a “meaningful way,” wrote the Wall Street Journal.

It’s understandable Republican concerns with the wording on this one. What defines “meaningful?” Does that open the door for Medicare abuse and fraud?

House Minority Republicans voiced their concerns in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“Unfortunately, the $87 billion allocated for more Medicaid money for states doesn’t appear to hold them accountable for ensuring that the tax dollars are spent wisely,” wrote the letter.

Some in the health care industry agree.

“[Y]ou can bring in too much money too fast and not only waste it, but set us back,“ said John Glaser, a chief information officer for a Boston non-profit hospital.

The pessimism of Republicans and some health care professionals really isn’t surprising. The health system has proven that it’s wasteful, inefficient, and costly.

Why throw more money at a fire pit?

There’s certainly a trade-off either way you choose. If you don’t invest in medical information technology today, then we’ll be far behind our capabilities. But if we don’t go about implementing electronic records correctly, we could stand to lose millions, if not billions in the mess of the broken health system.

Decisions, decisions…

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