In her July 18 article in US News & World report, “The Era of Electronic Medical Records”, Angela Haupt quotes a Health Affairs study published in March, stating that:
“Researchers put the first-year expense of installing an EMR package and training staff at more than $230,000 for a five-physician office… Each doctor, according to the Health Affairs study, will need about 134 hours to learn how to properly use the system.”
Ugh! Are they even aware that that’s 3.35 forty-hour work weeks, plus an additional $46,000 per doctor? How many doctors in private practice can afford to take a month off for training and then give up $46K on top of that even? Where to find the time and money!? Are they completely insane!?
Dr. West is an endocrinologist in private practice in Washington, DC. He completed fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. West opened The Washington Endocrine Clinic, PLLC, as a solo practice in 2009. He can be reached at doctorwestindc@gmail.com. Computo ergo sum.
