The Feds and EHRs

We need to STOP Federal incentives to implement EHRs until the numerous VERY serious problems are solved. My practice has been destroyed by the Government’s EHR mandate. I foolishly jumped on the bandwagon a year ago, got rid of paper, and entrusted my patients and practice to a product called GE Centricity Advance. Now GE HealthCare has decided to terminate Centricity Advance so it can focus resources on its more expensive flagship product. (Let me translate – so they can make more money.) Unfortunately, this will place a terrible burden, financial and otherwise, on my and the other impacted offices. Medical data must be re-entered. A new system must be purchased, learned and customized. More lost revenue, distraction from the important aspects of patient care and more chance for medical errors. Until the Government figures out how to protect patients and physicians from the abuses of EHR vendors, encouragement to move to EHRs must be put on hold.