Electronic Medical Records - What You Should Know About Them...

Hi All,

Today I’m going to talk about something you might have heard about in the news, but didn’t quite understand.  Or you might not have heard of the topic – it might just be new to you.  But….if you go for your annual checkup in the next few years, you might be faced with this at that point.  What am I talking about, you ask?

Electronic Medical/Health Records…Click here for a link to Wikipedia.which discusses what Electronic Health Records are – and what they are NOT. This extensive Wikipedia article covers terminology, patient considerations when Electronic Medical/Health Records are implemented, unintended consequences of using EHR, privacy and confidentiality issues and much more.  Click on this link for an article from the New York Times in October 2012. Finally, for a more mainstream explanation of EMR's, click on this link from HealthIT.gov

CNN and Money combined resources a few years back to create a website called CNNMoney. On this website readers can find an insightful article (from 9/16/13)  entitled ‘5 Things To Know About Electronic Health Records’.  

One of the important issues the article discusses is privacy and security with respect to EMR's.  Click on this link from the US Department of Health and Human Services  for an article on 'The Privacy and Security Risks of Electronic vs. Paper Health Records.'  

The other main point of the article '5 Things To Know About Electronic Health Records' is that they can save money. Click on this link from the New York Times for an OpEd piece from March 2012 entitled 'Do Electronic Medical Records Save Money?' 

Finally, readers can follow this link to IHealthBeat.org to read May 2013 article entitled, 'Don't Forget: Electronic Health Records Are Benefiting Patients'. 

So there you have it.  A very quick primer on EMR's and how they will affect you as a consumer and as a patient in the coming years.  Hope this helps - enjoy the links.  And if you have any questions about the post or the links, you can send me email by clicking on this link. 

Regards

Stu

Hospital Comparisons on Long Island

Hi All,

Hopefully you'll never have to use this site, but if you do...Hospital Compare from the Department of Health and Human Services (sponsored by the United States Government) is absolutely fabulous. I don't throw around compliments like that often, but this site is just great!

Starting at the beginning - a good place to start I would think :) - users can enter a location (Zip Code, City or State) in the boxes provided. Users can then focus on types of hospitals by narrowing down by General Hospitals, by Medical Condition or by Surgical Procedures.

The example that I'll use in this blog entry is a search for hospitals in the zip code 11501 (Mineola, New York). Once I did that search I saw a page that listed 62 hospitals that are withing 25 miles of Mineola. The usual suspects of hospitals comes up - including: Winthrop University Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, North Shore University Hospital and others.

The chart lists hospitals by the hospital type (acute care, acute care - veterans, Children's hospital, Critical Care hospitals and whether or not the hospital offers emergency services).

The real value of the site comes when users click on the tab at the top of the page that says 'Quality of Care'. When users click on this link they can see data on:

1. Survey of Patients' Hospital Experiences
2. Process of Care Measures
3. Outcome of Care Measures
4. Use of Medical Imaging
5. Patient Safety Measures

Users can compare up to 3 different hospitals in chart format - which makes it very, very easy to digest all the data. Users can also view the data in graph or table format for easier viewing and consumption of the information. Wow - very informative, timely and useful information is at your fingertips now!

Enjoy the site - I hope you find it useful and timely.

Regards,
Stu