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The move to electronic medical records saves money, pain and lives, according to medical professionals.

The age of medicine on paper is not over, but it is passing and will pass more quickly because of the incentives which came along earlier this year in the federal stimulus bill. Simply put, medical providers must have electronic records systems in place by 2015. There are financial incentives to meet the deadline, and penalties for those who don't.

In southeastern Wisconsin, the process is well along in most cases. But there is a much more important point for patients: Electronic records should reduce unnecessary tests and medical errors thus saving money, pain and lives.

One example and a persistent problem in health care is errors in administering medications. Physicians may order the wrong dose, the wrong drug, or may prescribe a drug that adversely interacts with a medication ordered by a different physician. The Institute of Medicine said in 2006 that an average patient in the United States can expect more than one medication error per day. Another study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said that entering medication orders into a computer cut errors by 81 percent.

Although only about 28 percent of U.S. physicians use electronic records and about 1.5 percent of hospitals have a comprehensive system in place, the VA has been working on its nationwide system for more than a decade. Articles in medical journals have noted its improved quality of care.

One of the reasons the system is so successful, Aanes said, is that all parts of it talk to one another. A pharmacy gets a prescription immediately. Test results are posted immediately. The records of a veteran who spends winters in Florida and is treated there are available to doctors here when that veteran returns to Wisconsin.

Medication errors are taken care of with a two-step process. The nurse giving a drug in the hospital first scans a barcode on the patient's wristband, then scans a code on the medication. The computer will flag problems and can do other routine chores such as easily calculate the proper dosage of a medication.

Source: JournalTimes.com

You can discuss more about Healthcare IT and related topics in our Healthcare Informatics Group.