Cheap Netbooks - A Path to Affordable EMR?
In a previous post, I made a plea for replacing paper charts with cheap ($300) tablet PCs.
Recently, the New York Times predicted that thin and inexpensive ($50) netbooks will reshape the way we compute.
Netbooks become the logical hardware choice as more software applications are accessed from a web browser and more data is stored on servers in the cloud.
In these lean economic times, physician practices could implement web-based electronic records with a netbook at a fraction of the cost of a traditional EMR. Traditional EMRs require large cash outlays for hardware, IT infrastructure and support.
But doctors, according to Adam Bosworth, former Google Guy who helped create Google Health, should not be in the business of running an IT department.
The most cost-effective healthcare IT solution has nothing to do with stimulus money for meaningful use of a certified EHR (whatever that means), but with adopting web-based electronic records using inexpensive netbooks.
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Small notebooks will undoubtedly play a roll. In some facilities they already do. How do you make the required technology as unobtrusive as possible? When a patient observes a clinician fumbling with a login screen or something, it doesn't inspire confidence about the care the patient is recieving, even though the two are likely unrelated.
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Jeff, I agree. My grandmother once walked out of a doctor's examining room for this very reason. The nurse was asking questions with her back to my grandmother so she could face her computer. There are creative ways for technology to enhance information gathering and communication (voice recognition, video for recording history and physical), but this must not impede the provider/patient exchange. Thank you for your comment.
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Hi,
It is not hard to get caught up in the headlines today with so much talk and ongoing discussions regarding hard economic times. However with this in mind, life still goes on. A physician practice must forge forward as well. Maybe the thought of EMR is not such a bad idea after all. Many practices like other small businesses are faced with challenging times ahead.
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In these lean economic times, physician practices could implement web-based electronic records with a netbook at a fraction of the cost of a traditional EMR. Traditional EMRs require large cash outlays for hardware, IT infrastructure and support.
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