US president elect Barack Obama stated that his administration will invest money to make sure that the health records of all Americans are computerized in the next five years. Estimates have put the cost of such an endeavor in the billions. However, the move is intended to eventually save Americans billions in health care costs. More importantly, electronic health records have been shown to improve patient care by reducing medical errors. Obama’s plan is to eventually have one standard electronic system that all health care facilities will use. This certainly will not be an easy task given the commercialization of health care in the US today. On a related note, beginning this month Medicare will begin to offer incentives to physicians who prescribe electronically.
Posts Tagged ‘medical records’
January 12, 2009


Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.