Physician adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) has become a
national priority. It is said that EMRs have the potential to greatly
improve patient care, to provide the data needed for more effective
population management and quality assurance of both an individual
practice's patients and well as patients of large health care systems,
and the potential to create efficiencies that allow physicians to
provide this improved care at a far lower cost than at present. There is
currently a strong U.S. government push for physicians to adopt EMR
technology, with the Obama administration emphasizing the use of EMRs as
an important part of the future of health care and urging widespread
adoption of this technology by 2014. This timely book for the primary
care community offers a concise and easy to read guide for implementing
an EMR system. Organized in six sections, this invaluable title details
the general state of the EMR landscape, covering the government's
incentive program, promises and pitfalls of EMR technology, issues
related to standardization and the range of EMR vendors from which a
provider can choose. Importantly, chapter two provides a detailed and
highly instructional account of the experiences that a range of primary
care providers have had in implementing EMR systems. Chapter three
discusses how to effectively choose an EMR system, while chapters four
and five cover all of the vital pre-implementation and implementation
issues in establishing an EMR system in the primary care environment.
Finally, chapter six discusses how to optimize and maintain a new EMR
system to achieve the full cost savings desired. Concise, direct, but
above all honest in recognizing the challenges in choosing and
implementing an electronic health record in primary care, Electronic
Medical Records: A Practical Guide for Primary Care has been written
with the busy primary care physician in mind.
