The future of medical records
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Designers dreamed up patient records that can actually help and serve patients.
Electronic medical records are not working like they should -- or could -- according to a new analysis in Health Affairs that revisited previous predictions for the EMR revolution and found disappointing results, in terms of efficiency,saved costs, and patient care.
The practical concerns pointed out by the study include ease of use and ability to share information across systems. But another important metric -- the corollary to questions likeWould You Want to See Everything Your Doctor Writes About You?" -- is, What would you, the patient, do with that information provided you were granted access?
The federal government took the Department of Veterans Affairs' current record system, which "looks and feels like a receipt," and challenged designers to reimagine the Continuity of Care Document, an EMR output used to describe a patient's health history.
Technology is "only a tool," as an expert who helped push for the adoption of EMRs under President Obama told The New York Times. "Like any tool, it can be used well or poorly."