<p>I’d be more sympathetic to doctors and EHR if I didn’t feel that they were being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. The EHR systems are designed by non-physicians-- well, why? Why weren’t doctors advocating for and demanding EHR fifteen years ago? Why does a doctor’s office have worse technology than a car dealership? The EHR programs are being designed by non-physicians because somebody needs to get doctors’ offices out of the Stone Age.</p>
<p>Emily my son worked as an EMT this summer and couldn’t believe it when I told him how much his passengers were being billed for those rides. Many (most) were not emergencies. This is like the ER in that there’s a lot of non-payment.</p>
<p>When my son was critically injured in an accident, I had to fill out the ambulance paperwork in the ambulance with his blood all over me, my hands shaking while the EMTs worked on him. My handwriting was bad and one letter looked like another, so the insurance company wouldn’t pay. We fought that charge for years because none of the geniuses could comprehend the fact that handwriting could be ambiguous in such a circumstance.</p>
<p>I am surprised you could write anything at all. </p>
<p>Was this your youngest?</p>
<p>Zoosermom, sorry you and your son had that experience.</p>
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<p>That’s horrible and an unacceptable way to treat people. When my D was hurt in a riding accident, the ambulance company never mentioned insurance at the scene or in the ambulance and asked for nothing until we were in the ER and she was being taken care of. When my mom fell at my home a few weeks ago, it was similar. They asked for insurance info after she was checked in and being treated. It was very unobtrusive.</p>
<p>No paperwork was done in the ambulance by my EMT kid, either. It must vary by ambulance company. There are times it would be impossible as many patients are alone. Sorry.</p>
<p>That was my youngest. The PBK himself. It was so bad that the police closed all the streets on the way to the hospital. They made me fill out the paperwork, rather than asking me questions and filling it out for me. That was because both EMTs were working on him, but I always thought it could have waited to get to the hospital. The collections people were ruthless.</p>
<p>What is PBK? Peanut Butter King? 
Your son is too young for Phi Beta Kappa.</p>
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She would not be eligible for medicaid. Her alimony would be about $100K a year. But she has to pay a lot for medicare because her husband in under 60 right now. She’s not looking to have her medical insurance subsidized, just to be able to compare the price of it on the exchange with what she has to pay for medicare. I don’t think it would be lower but many people have told her that it would be</p>
<p>Dstark, the PreciousBabyKing.</p>
<p>Oh… Lol.</p>
<p>zoosermom, that’s a horrible story. I hope your son is doing well with no residual injuries?</p>
<p>With regard to the EHR, I agree with CF. Physicians hand-writing their medical histories created huge issues with misreading prescriptions, leaving out issues/observations, etc. The electronic medical record reduces problems for the patients: fewer medicine errors, better communication among your treatment team members, and a whole host of improvements. Hospitals and large physician groups are the strongest proponents of the EHR because it’s a major tool in quality improvement. </p>
<p>Physicians are just going to have to get with the program. It’s tough to lean a new approach, and some of the systems aren’t the most user-friendly. I hear that ophthalmologists have the worst systems to deal with. But it’s going to happen over time. </p>
<p>Frugaldoctor, so far as learning multiple passwords, etc., join the club! Someone in my company counted a total of 23 separate systems that required separate ID’s and passwords. A real pain.</p>
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<p>Perhaps it was an attempt to keep you occupied doing something else besides worry?</p>
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<p>Did you still have to fill out a clip board of information in the waiting room?</p>
<p>On another forum I participate in, a poster made the following comment:</p>
<p>“Future will bring Doctor Shortage and Hospital Service draw backs. For all Americans. Underground Medical Economy will appear, just as in Canada, England and Switzerland.
Cash will be King in Health care, save some money for the end.”</p>
<p>I know there are some here who will disagree but I think this poster may have it right. America will have a two class health care system. Those who can pay cash or can still get insurance with wide networks and mostly everyone else who will have to accept inferior medical care, particularly if they have a catastrophic or an intensive illness requiring specialized care. I suspect the inequality which Obamacare was suppose to narrow will actually widen in the years to come.</p>
<p>^No. The appointment was with a doctor in the gyno practice I already go to, thought this appt. was with another doctor as mine was on vacation. They do ask you to fill in the history forms once a year before my annual, but the nurses always say not to bother, so I don’t do them anymore at all at that office.</p>
<p>Drs. are being pushed into EMR but are being reimbursed by taxpayers thanks to the lobbying efforts of the AMA; same goes for chiropractors and podiatrists.</p>
<p>PAs and NPs, on the other hand, are required to adopt EMR but without the reimbursement - no AMA-like lobbying power.</p>
<p>The push to EMR was done by the insurance industry and not the medical practitioners. They will be able to do billing automatically, pushing most of the work back on the practices, and then run cost comparison algorithms on all of the practitioners.</p>
<p>No sympathy for doctors. None. EMR might be worse for them, because, oh horrors, they have to learn a new system, but EMR are clearly better for patients. Notice how emilybee’s appointment was clearly better for her: she didn’t have to undergo (or pay for) redundant tests, she didn’t have to remember and explain what the first doctor did.</p>
<p>And if the insurance companies are running cost comparison algorithms on doctors, good. It’s time doctors stopped pretending that cost doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Lerkin, I am 38 and live in Cook County, IL. I was very surprised by the low premium, too. The BCBS PPO network here includes lots of high-end doctors at Northwestern and U of Chicago. The product is beyond what I hoped for, and at a lower price.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with a two-class health system? That’s what we have now for seniors. Everybody gets Medicare, and people who want something fancier than Medicare can pay for it themselves. A one-class system would either be impossibly expensive (if it is full of luxuries for everyone) or impossible to control (if it tries to ban rich patients from buying the luxuries they want). As with primary education, the best solution seems to be to provide a baseline option for everyone, but allow people to buy whatever extra service they can afford.</p>