Americans are both undertreated and overtreated in a health care system that wastes up to $1 trillion a year and delivers profoundly uneven quality: Current estimates indicate that preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Fifty-eight percent of patients referred to Virginia Mason, our medical center in Seattle, for back surgery would be more appropriately treated without an operation. Tens of millions of Americans, most with health care insurance, have never had appropriate screening for colon cancer. Electronic medical records can help correct these systemic defects.
How the EMR Is Increasing Innovation and Creativity in Health Care
Information technology has come late to health care delivery. But in 2009 federal regulations applied financial incentives and penalties to drive broad implementation of EMRs. While introducing this technology has been costly and disruptive to traditional medical practice, there is no question that patients and purchasers can receive benefits in terms of improving safety, ensuring necessary care, and avoiding unnecessary care. Just as the cell phone, originally designed as a mobile communication device, has been adapted to an unimagined array of additional functions, the EMR is serving as a platform for innovation and creativity. Progressive and tech-savvy provider groups are advancing the frontier of ensuring medical quality and collaborating with commercial EMR vendors. Long before innovations become commercially available, they are tested and refined as small-scale improvements programmed into an individual medical center’s EMR. Some of these innovations include: (1) detailed prompts and reminders to avoid omissions in care, (2) transparency to engage patients and families in spotting lapses in care, and (3) adding medical intelligence to computer programs.