(House Republicans) have voted to repeal Obamacare 39 times. One more, and they get free healthcare for life!
Just kidding — they get that now.
Obamacare: Yet another reason to give up smoking
FILE - In a June 11, 2007 file photo, Helen Heinlo smokes outside of a coffee shop in Belmont, Calif. Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama’s health care law, say experts. The Affordable Care Act allows health insurers to charge smokers buying an individual policy up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1. For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. A 60-year-old could wind up paying nearly $5,100 on top of premiums. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
Electronic Health Records Becoming Mainstream
A large part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act is aimed at making patients’ health records more accessible between multiple physicians, as well as between doctors and their patients. Part of this initiative has been to implement the use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems.
These systems allow easy sharing and accessibility for all parties involved in making your healthcare decisions. In addition to saving time, they also reduce the number of errors sometimes made in written files.
Ideally, with the use of EHR systems you could move to a different state and it would be easier for your new doctor to receive a current file from your previous physician.
The survey was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention to determine how prominent the use of EHR systems has become since the induction of HITECH. EHR systems do not include patients’ billing information. Practices surveyed were asked to exclude the use of electronic billing when considering whether they used EHR systems or not.
The survey found that a majority (64%) of physicians under 50 have been early adopters. The larger the practice, the more likely they were to use an EHR system — 86% of practices with eleven or more physicians reported using a system. Only about a third (29%) of solo practitioners have implemented one.
Large health organizations, such as university systems, were also more inclined to have transfered their files to EHR systems while only half of physician-owned practices did the same.
By implementing the use of EHR systems, many healthcare providers are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments. Of those using this technology, approximately 77% of them are using systems that meet all HITECH’s requirements. As of June 30, 2012, more than 119,000 professionals and 3,400 hospitals have received incentive payments.
Does your physician use an EHR system? If so, how has that impacted your overall healthcare experience? Tell us in the comments.
From my experience recently with family members who have required hospitalization, this system has not been implemented in our area AT ALL. The present system wastes a lot of time and expense and is prone to errors. It needs to be modernized ASAP. No more paper. No more faxes. No more reciting the same symptoms, meds, and medical history to five different professionals during one ER visit! - Waterman12053
I gave him my advice. I told him many times (about) the political cost of doing this. And thank God for the country, he didn’t listen to me.
Chicago mayor and former Obama chief-of-staff RAHM EMANUEL, glad that his old boss ignored Rahm’s advice about not pursuing the Affordable Care Act.
Mike
