Electronic Medical Records [EMR] WILL BE A PANACEA (Score 1)

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) WILL BE A PANACEA... IF ... 1. There is a national (world) standard format. It doesn't have to be the best, it just has to be good. Without this, it will be an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) nightmare. 2. It is relatively secure. EMR would be a good candidate for cloud computing if the security issues can be addressed. If cloud computing is used, medical organizations need only purchase any device that can attach to the web. Why haven't hospitals and medical offices done this already? Look at many hospital accounting systems. They were written in the 60s, in COBOL. Every couple of years another layer of ineffective crap is plopped on top to âoeimproveâ the human interface. The systems have not been replaced because the medical industry HATES to spend money on OVERHEAD. Remember, most hospitals consider NURSES to be overhead, not production staff. Consider: the main reason for hospital existence is for advanced nursing care. Another reason EMR have not been adopted is related to administration costs. By adopting EMR, insurance companies will no longer to justify siphoning off over 25% of health care dollars. Consider what we could do if the cost of medicine went down by 25%.