My doctor, whom I consider a great doctor, has not kept pace with the march of time with respect to computers and automation. I’ve had this doctor for 40 years. I’ve never seen another GP in that time. The highest levels of technology in his office consist of his fax machine and his cell phone. His office doesn’t even accept credit cards, only cash or checks.
I visited him (and his receptionist/nurse) yesterday for a throat problem. I learned the federal or state government will soon force him to get a computer in order to enable him to continue to prescribe any medications (something his nurse calls “e-prescriptions’). Normally he just scratches prescriptions off on a pad and hands them to the patient. I suspect that this new prescription requirement just scratches the surface of his lack of computer automation problems. Surely he’ll need to become much more computer savvy in maintaining medical records digitally to remain an effective doctor in the eyes of the government.
He showed me his new cell phone, which he hates. Apparently it has a touch screen that is so sensitive that when he talks on it his cheek or fact touches some part of the touch screen and frequently causes a disconnection. He doesn’t seem comfortable with electronic technology.
I talked with the nurse about what they would need in computer(s) to meet the new requirements. The nurse said that she knows there are requirements (presumably for security), but she doesn’t know what they are or where to start to get a computer. Basically, she remains in a quandary, just hoping for an extension, saying something like "I think there are some exceptions to the rules where they might form a hardship for the doctor" and "maybe they will postpone the deadline for a while".
I am a programmer, and I’ve built several Windows based computers in my time and built lots of programs even some with database access. I’d like to help my doctor and his nurse. I have no clue as to what happens in a medical setting when a medical office, even a small medical office, gets computerized. Can a doctor just purchase some business level PC and some off the shelf medical records software to get started, or is this process highly regulated, and only handled by specialized medical software vendors who also manage the hardware?
I’d like to find out about are the federal and state requirements for doctors who must modernize and computerize their records. I don’t know if I belong in that loop, but if I can help to advise my doctor on hardware and software, I’d like to. There may exist legalities that make it impossible to do that myself, but I’d like to help if I can. I don’t know where to get the specific information I’d need to help. I’m not in it for the money. God knows I already have too many paying software jobs right now. But I would hate to see a single-doctor small practice have to undergo the expense of a huge medical records system. I’d like to find a reasonable solution for him and help him along with the technology. I just want my doctor to still be viable when forced into computer automation.
To give you an example of the extent of the problem, my doctor has at least 12 large four drawer filing cabinets of paper medical records on his patients. He really has no more room in the office for more filing cabinets. I have an auto-feeding scanner I could set up for him to scan in all these records, and place them in proper digital storage so that they would retrieve easily for him. He could start going digital by scanning and placing the newly generated records in the same digital database, or even by creating digital records to start with.
Basically I’m just looking for some sources to find information on these requirements, which I think must be mostly federal requirements. Are there any Kossak doctors who have been through this process and could comment on this? I remain open to suggestions--even to not getting involved. I just would like to tell them how to get started.