Does putting an EMR into a primary care practice make life hell for a year?  |  October 3, 2008  

A friend of mine sent me this link - "Beware of the EMR ‘Ponzi scheme,’ warns physician leader" — earlier this week. The article starts off by saying:

Healthcare IT does not necessarily make life easier for primary care physicians, says a leader in the movement to make medicine more efficient and patient-centered.

"When you put an EMR into a primary care practice, your life is hell for the next year," said L.Gordon Moore, MD.

"EMR vendors aren’t really giving us what we need. We have to make a distinction between a robust EMR with decision support tools, and one that is just being marketed as a way to improve coding. And we really need to get out of the E&M coding game."

Yikes. I’ve been in the healthcare IT market for a while and that’s probably one of the strongest anti-EMR statements I’ve seen publicly.

I know I have many readers who are physicians — how many of you concur with Dr. Moore?


Shahid N. Shah
The Healthcare IT Guy