Patient, Heal Thyself in the Digital Future

June 24, 2009— -- Electronic medical records are the holy grail of health care reform, enough so that President Obama sees them as so important that he provided funding immediately through the stimulus bill, without waiting for broader reform.

His optimism has good cause. With the ease of a mouse click, doctors can know everything about our medical lives in an instant -- with no messy handwriting to confuse them.

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But technology alone will not transform health care. It is a tool, and, like all others, is only useful in skillful hands. Those hands will not just be those of our physicians. We, as patients, will play a crucial role, as well.

The ultimate vision of reform is electronic records that are "interoperable." That means anyone can access them from any computer system. No more VHS and Betamax.

Imagine the result: All your lab tests, prescriptions, screening tests and specialist opinions accessible in one place. You can go from doctor to doctor anywhere in the county, and your essential medical information will automatically follow. The doctors will all even know your name.

Fewer errors will occur, as when physicians prescribe drugs without knowing about a patient's other medications that can cause dangerous interactions. Thousands are hospitalized and many die each year from medication errors. The fatality averted could be your own.

Your physician will also know what top experts think of your condition. Electronic records will come with built-in decision support based on the latest medical evidence. All physicians can access the same expertise as colleagues at top academic centers.

This is the vision of what can happen to medicine, but it does not tell us what actually will happen. To imagine that, we must consider the often overlooked missing ingredient. The system will be used by human beings.

The future of electronic medicine lies as much in sociology as in technology. How will physicians use their new tool? Much of their time will be spent entering data. They will check boxes on computer screens and peruse drop-down menus instead of jotting down words. Will this stifle innovative thinking? What subtleties of observation may be lost?