Electronic Shortcuts To Inaccurate Medical Records

A Shortcut to Wasted Time by Leora Horwitz.  The New York Times.  November 22, 2012.

In this opinion piece an internist addresses the role of electronic medical records in care.  While the benefits of such records  are clear, especially in regards to safety and efficiency, there are problems.  The ease of documentation has apparently lead to documentation of procedures and examinations that did not happen at all.  Hospitals received $1 billion more from Medicare in 2010 than they did in 2005 because, many suspect, of the ease of clicking for documentation.  The Justice Department and HHS have warned the medical community about clicking without doing.  The ease of copy and paste has also had distorting effects on records.  The article also illustrates how the content of care could be distorted by the documentation and payment systems.