Government Influence on Patient Records
November 7, 2011
I need to pause in my series of blogs about our conversion to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and comment on a certain aspect of this EMR. There is an aspect of this program called “meaningful use.” When this feature is turned on, it reports to the federal government certain aspects of the patient’s complaints that the government wants to know. These are always (at this time) concerned with lifestyle choices. These include does the patient smoke, what medications they take, do they do drugs, are they married, what race and ethnicity they are, and how many doctors they have seen so on and so forth. At this time the program is used by over 10,000 physicians in the country and is a fast going well-used program, so the government is getting a lot of data from this ‘meaningful use’ aspect of this program. At this point, it is optional to have this turned on and they give financial incentives (reduced maintenance fees) in order to allow this to be used.
I have told the EMR sales person from the start, that I am extremely opposed to having this even in our program and that I do not feel it is government’s place to have this information about its citizens without their consent. I understand the reason for it and that it is designed to develop a national health care system that will meet the needs of the people; however, I feel it is an intrusion into our privacy for the government to track these things. I know in the future they will add certain things into the program that is reported to the government without us even knowing!
The concern I have is what will happen in the future. It is explained to me by the sales person that in 2 to 3 years it will not be an option to turn this feature on, rather it will be required by the government of all EMR systems to report to the government statistics from the patients. Does that concern you? That concerns me. I know that I will fight tooth nail not to have that feature ever in my record and I believe most Dentists, at least that I know, will feel the same way. This leads to a whole host of commentary, blogs, and thoughts. The intrusion of the government into our lives is coming at every possible angle, and this is a concern to this citizen who believes that the fabric of this country is based on the independence and freedom of its people, but I will save my thoughts for another day.
Ronald S. Prehn, D.D.S.
Diplomate of the American Board of Orofacial Pain
Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine
