(2009-03-01) Emr Stimulus

The Economic Stimulus plan includes $19B to push EMR usage. (Update: this became ARRA.)

The Primary Care Information Project in New York City facilitates adoption. Team members considered writing their own software for simple, Web-based electronic health records, but abandoned that idea once they understood that patient records would have to be tightly linked to billing - a physician's financial lifeblood... The staff worked closely with its software supplier, E Clinical Works, to tweak and tailor the system. They began rolling out the records a little more than a year ago. They are now used by more than 1,000 physicians, mainly in poorer neighborhoods.

Jay Parkinson (who works for MyCa) agrees with Kevin Pho that this is a bad idea. Like bailing out the Big Three AutoMobile makers, an infusion of federal dollars into the current crop of programs will only stifle innovation that's sorely needed to make electronic record systems truly useful.

Note that to qualify it must be a "CertifiedEmr".