My latest HND piece reminds readers that we are one year closer to the 2014 deadline for "meaningful use" of electronic health records. The Feds have been hyping this for years, and companies such as Lexmark have come up with some excellent products.
The problem is that the billions in incentives put forth to achieve this deadline represents a skewing of priorities that should evoke outrage, but—strangely—does not. After all, there are serious issues with medical outcomes, reimbursements to providers, and the simple fact that the system is rapidly going broke.
But then, what more can you expect when health care is run by legions of feckless bureaucrats, rather than medical professionals? Sadly, the die was cast in 1965 with Medicare, and we have been paying the price ever since. Even now, few people appreciate that Medicare—since its inception—has influenced how all health care is practiced in this country, whether actually reimbursed by that program or not.
Read the complete article.
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