President of the American College of Physicians on Electronic Medical Records

I've taken so much flak over the years for being an "anti-EHR zealot", "a critic of the use of computerized medical records in hospitals", or similar canards [see note below] that I am letting someone else be a spokesperson today.

I am simply posting a link to this essay by Virginia L. Hood, MBBS, MPH, FACP, President of the American College Of Physicians (ACP) with only one comment:

Electronic Medical Records have Yet to Fill Their Potential

http://www.acpinternist.org/archives/2011/10/presidents.htm

From the October ACP Internist, copyright © 2011 by the American College of Physicians

Read the whole essay at that link.

Nearly every issue mentioned is addressed extensively on this blog since 2004 and at my educational website "Contemporary Issues in Medical Informatics: Common Examples of Healthcare Information Technology Difficulties" at this link. The latter site was started not just last month or last year, but in 1999.

My only comment is that I was more than a decade ahead of my time in recognizing and writing about many of the issues she discusses. Sadly, few were listening; now physicians are not just being encouraged, but in fact prematurely coerced to adopt this technology - in the deficient state as it exists today - by HHS. Tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars have been earmarked for our 'National Program for IT in the HHS.'

Ready, shoot ... aim.

-- SS

[Note] In reality, I am a critic of the use of poorly designed, poorly implemented and poorly managed clinical IT in hospitals.