Dynamic Chiropractic, in an article
FOUND HERE reports that "...new numbers are showing that
more and more providers are adopting electronic health records (EHR). Interestingly enough, when looking at small private practices,
doctors of chiropractic are matching or even slightly exceeding adoption
by medical providers, and these numbers could increase exponentially in
the next two to three years."
The CDC estimates that "four of every 10 large-scale practices have already adopted electronic health records....small physician practices (one to five physicians) are slower to
adopt, but still offer a strong showing at 8-12 percent adoption for a
true EHR. Approximately 20 percent reported using a "basic" system with
EHR. Another study by the Texas Medical Association estimates that 43
percent of respondents used an EHR system in 2009."
"When comparing chiropractic to medical adoption in the small-practice
category, doctors of chiropractic are matching or even leading the way.
Care should be taken when comparing two different kinds of practices;
nevertheless, chiropractors, most of whom are in a small-practice
setting, have adopted as high as 19 percent, based on several surveys," Dynamic Chiropractic Reports.
"The exponential movement toward complete digital management in health
care can be easily understood if we examine the life cycle of the X-ray
jacket; a symbol for the speed at which health care is moving. For the
past four decades, exchanging records involved the X-ray jacket. For
decades, signed patient requests for records were delivered via the
postal service, to eventually be replaced by faxes. In either case, it
would take days or weeks to finally have an old X-ray or MRI sent to
your office. Sometimes it was simply faster if the patient picked up the
imaging films themselves and hand-delivered them to you."
"This past decade, CD-ROMs or DVDs came on the scene. Digital X-rays
and MRIs began to arrive, often with the software to view the images
stored on the disc itself. We could manipulate, zoom in and move the
images around on our screen. A few clicks of the button and a radiology
report could be read and printed."
"Within five years, both CD-ROMs and X-ray jackets will be gone
entirely. By the middle of this decade, most imaging and test results
will come from a direct electronic means, making the postal service and
bulky storage devices unnecessary. It may be an encrypted e-mail or
through a direct link to a health information exchange (HIE), hospital
or imaging center's Web site. Whether by an account with provider
"permissions" or EHR, we are going to have a nearly instantaneous
exchange of health care information and completely digital storage. EHR
is going to rule health care information and delivery of data."
"The
trucking/transportation and manufacturing industries across the U.S.
converted to digital management years ago. We need to realize that the
same speed and efficiency that we want to offer in health care has been
achieved in other areas of the economy for over a decade. For the first
time, we are finally able to apply these kinds of mechanisms to how we
deliver care. As amazing as it seems now, within a few short years, this
speed of health care is going to become the norm, as it has in other
industries. Those who are not participating may risk appearing
substandard, while those who are technologically advanced will gain an
edge."
"The primary concern of nearly all chiropractors can be summed in three
words: ease of use. Your colleagues want a system that is easy to learn,
implement and customize, and will not need to be replaced in a few
years. After
ease of use and compliance, most doctors would like complete
integration of their electronic records with their billing and
scheduling system, and HIPAA compliance with data backup and security to
make the whole system efficient and secure. The top three
reasons for DCs slowing their adoption rate are cost of software; cost
of hardware and IT costs; and implementation unknowns of how to get
started."
