Word: computerizing
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Health care is a labyrinth of insurers, doctors, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, all using different computer systems; are we really going to create a single comprehensive system that gives everyone access to all the information they need? Or find a way to get the multiple systems already out there to talk...
When, for instance, does a urinary tract (bladder) infection become a pyelonephritis (infection involving kidneys and ureters)? There's no clear-cut answer. But when the computer reminds the doctor, every time he clicks on the "urinary tract infection" button, that the hospital gets many thousands more for the more...
Or consider that nearly every patient who has a big hip or knee operation will run a fever for a while afterward. No one really knows why. But let the computer pick up the temperature elevation and make me address a pull down menu that includes "fever of unknown origin...
The EMR makes money in ways like this, using cleverly designed "thought bins" that are put into the program by profit-maximizing, code-savvy administrators. EMR can inject more higher-paying codes into our patient contact and squeeze that much more money out of it - quite innocently too. It is...
EMR has the potential to greatly increase insurance company denials of the tests and treatments that doctors order. In the old days, the tests we ordered were done first - though bills for them might not get paid. Now when findings aren't bad enough to "justify" expensive tests or treatments...