Electronic Medical Records or Medical Transcription?

The stage is set and all medical transcriptionists around the world are keen to find out if their means of livelihood would emerge triumphant against Electronic Medical Records, one of the major revamps that happened to the U.S. healthcare system "Obamacare." Back in 2009, President Obama signed HITECH Act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) into a law. So how does it work? According to program, from 2011, the healthcare providers were provided with financial incentives to demonstrate ‘meaningful use’ of electronic medical records (EMR). Starting in 2015, doctors or hospitals that are not using electronic health records will be subjected to financial penalties under Medicare. This clears the air that the goal remains ‘meaningful use’ of EMR and not mere ‘adoption’ of the system. More than half of the nation's health care providers and more than 80% of hospitals now have electronic records.
And the numbers says it all loud and clear.

• More than 50% of the nation's medical records and more than 80% of hospitals now use electronic records.

• Incentives and aids spent to date accounts to $15.5B to develop elaborate EMR systems for the healthcare providers.

• Since the start of 2011, doctors or their assistants have filled more than 190 million prescriptions electronically.

• Providers have also shared more than 4.3 million health care summaries with colleagues when patients change doctors, according to the data.

• These digitized health record systems have already delivered,

• 4.6 million electronic copies of health information to patients,

• Appointments, check-ups, an required tests reminders counting to 13 million &

• 40 million checks on drug and medication interactions. 

• A June report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that 4,024 hospitals — 80.3% of those eligible — have adopted an EHR system and so have more than 305,000 health care professionals, 55.3% of the total.

So what are the challenges for such massive data transitions?
What does healthcare providers have to say about EMR user friendliness?Is patient healthcare & safety met with paperless approach?Where do transcriptionists place themselves in the future? 

Watch this space for more on EMR and Medical Transcription.