This was one of the “headlines” in this morning’s eWeek Healthcare update:
News: PDAs Expected to Change Health Care in Future
PDAs could change the way health care is delivered in the future by providing doctors with easy access to patient data and the latest information on treatment.
I swear, we’ve heard this every year, and still medical offices haven’t caught up to technology. I remember about 4 years ago, my kid’s pediatrician was using an early version of the tablet PC to update the file and write prescriptions - you just picked up the print-out when you checked out of the office. That ’experiment’ didn’t last a year, but I’m sure cost was one concern. With managed care, HMOs, and everything else, it’s very hard for them to pay for these upgrades. Maybe insurers should help foot the bill so that expenses do go down, all the way around. Better records, mean cleaner bills, which means less problems for the patients.
I’m sure my wife would appreciate that, every month she’s combing over the EOBs for our son to make sure that the doctors, hospital, and especially medical labs aren’t trying to get more money from us than they should. You’d be surprised how bad their billing is… or maybe not.