Why it's not Obamacare's fault doctors are quitting

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/06/02/why-doctors-really-quit/

One of the author's arguments seems to be that doctors do a lot of complaining about EHRs and the like, but don't actually quit and leave medicine because they have families/retirement accounts to fund. Therefore it must not be that bad if they're not actually quitting medicine over it--like many threaten to do. This seems like a very narrow-minded argument to such a monumental issue.

Are EHRs really that big of an impediment to providing quality care? Is it just the older generations that are less likely to adapt or does this not bode well with freshly minted doctors as well?

 

[preDoGuy24]

The majority of docs wouldn't choose medicine again, 300+ commit suicide a year, and 70% decide to stay in practice because of decreased reimbursement and the loss of their retirement fund in 2008...thank god its not JUST because Obama care that is causing them to quit or not quit, not real sure what this author is getting at except saying "obamacare isn't that bad, see the miserable overworked doctors are still practicing"..

 

[Psai]

He's not an author, he's a blogger and this article is crap

EHRs are a real burden to the system. The most important benefit was to make information easily accessible to the people who needed it and with all these systems that don't communicate, there's really no point in having them. There is so much crap in the EHR that it's hard to find useful information. When you do need to find a CT or lab results from outside, you sometimes still need to get a CD or faxed results. People spend a ton of time in front of the computer inputting garbage instead of spending time actually talking to patients and figuring out the story or talking to other doctors to clarify the consult instead of attempting to decipher it from a confusing hastily written note that has a full ros and pe for billing purposes

 

[Mad Jack]

The problem with EMRs is at its core a philosophical one.

Most doctors believe the primary purpose of the medical record should be to foster accurate patient record keeping and inter professional communication.

The primary purpose of the EMR is in actuality to maximize billing.

And to maximize documentation so that a finger can be difinitively pointed away from the hospital or health system and at the physician should anything go wrong. It gives hospitals the maximum billing while minimizing their liability, what's not to love from their perspective.

 

[Dares Dareson]

No one even knows what Obamacare is/does. People just hate it because they hate Obama. If the Affordable Care Act didn't have any EHR provisions in it, Charles Krauthammer would have written an editorial about how the Obama administration is "increasing health care costs by refusing to adopt new technology" or something.

But yes, EHR is very problematic. I work at a hospital and we are constantly having problems with EHR and often times relying on what seems like an absurd amount of paper documents in the year 2015 because you can never find what you want in the computer. And when I tried to access my own electronic record for my vaccinations etc.? Forget about it.

 

[M.MD]

Are EHRs really that big of an impediment to providing quality care? Is it just the older generations that are less likely to adapt or does this not bode well with freshly minted doctors as well?

This is just anecdotal, but some of the younger doctors I've spoken with don't seem to mind using EHRs quite as much because this upcoming generation grew up with computer technology, and the older generations didn't. That's not to say the system is pleasant to work with or efficient by any means, I'm simply pointing out that I think age has quite a bit to do with it.

 

[AnonymousD.O.]

I'm not even going to look at the article, I can bet it's from either Fox news or Forbes

 

[DocVapor]

I'm not even going to look at the article, I can bet it's from either Fox news or Forbes

It's interesting that you would come to that conclusion without reading the article, considering neither of those places are the exclusive outlets for articles about Obama care.

However, you can see that it is from Forbes just by looking at the text of the link.

 

[doc05]

can't figure out what the point of that article is. doctors quit for many reasons, and it's not because they're unhappy with the computers.

 

[Dares Dareson]

I'm not even going to look at the article, I can bet it's from either Fox news or Forbes

It actually offers a counterpoint to Fox News' Krauthammer's criticism of Obamacare. Forbes puts out some decent articles. If it were a Wall Street Journal editorial or something, I'd probably agree that it's not worth reading, being the radical left-wing pinko communist Obama apologist that I am.

 

[Doctor Bob]

A well integrated intuitive-use system-wide EMR with seamless transitions between modules is a wonderful thing that makes patient care much easier.

A stand-alone system that doesn't talk with other nearby hospitals (or even within itself) and isn't the most user friendly or intuitive platform is an impediment to patient care.

Guess which model most hospitals have.

Even within this single facility, the inpatient EMR is different than the radiology EMR which is different than the ED EMR. They usually talk with each other, but sometimes the bridges break down and you can't view/access what's in one database through the others until IT comes along and fixes the problem.

Gah. It's too early in the morning for my blood pressure to be this high.

 

[Jabbed]

A well integrated intuitive-use system-wide EMR with seamless transitions between modules is a wonderful thing that makes patient care much easier.

A stand-alone system that doesn't talk with other nearby hospitals (or even within itself) and isn't the most user friendly or intuitive platform is an impediment to patient care.

Guess which model most hospitals have.

Even within this single facility, the inpatient EMR is different than the radiology EMR which is different than the ED EMR. They usually talk with each other, but sometimes the bridges break down and you can't view/access what's in one database through the others until IT comes along and fixes the problem.

Gah. It's too early in the morning for my blood pressure to be this high.

This. Especially for the younger generations of docs, the concept is no big deal. I can type faster than I can write longhand, I can quickly navigate most types of free-standing electronic databases, and the templates found in some EMRs make charting faster than ever.

The issue is that the technology sucks. Most of the EMR systems on the market now are real clunkers that were due for bankruptcy up until government tax credits were issued encouraging the transition to electronic records. Most of the existing technology is only around because it was priced more cheaply than the competition at the time, not because of any intrinsic value.

If the ACA wanted to actually improve the situation, it should have established a monopoly EMR company that could be nationally implemented.

 

[DokterMom]

EMR is still in its infancy and people are resistant to change. I'm certainly not arguing that EMR systems are all efficient and wonderful, but rather that they're necessary and will continue to improve.

 

[charmiedermie]

No one even knows what Obamacare is/does. People just hate it because they hate Obama.

If you're going to start med school in August, shouldn't you wait before you jump to conclusions about why people hate Obamacare?

EMR is still in its infancy and people are resistant to change. I'm certainly not arguing that EMR systems are all efficient and wonderful, but rather that they're necessary and will continue to improve.

EMR has apparently been around since the late 1960s, so that infant is now 55 years old.