You can tell there’s a generation gap in the medical profession, and I’m champing at the bit to get out into the workforce and show these old guys what we can do with today’s technology.
The Canadian Medical Association is having their annual meeting next week, and the Canadian Press decided to put together an article with a few quotes from incoming president Dr. Anne Doig. I’ve hashed and rehashed these same points before so I won’t take the article apart, but just a few quotes from it that I’d like to respond to.
“We all agree that the system is imploding [...]” Doig said [...]
Umm… what? Data on this isn’t hard to find, and it tells a much different story than the one the CMA would have you believe. Canadians, as compared to other Western countries, pay an average amount for their healthcare, have longer than average wait times, but much better than average satisfaction ratings overall. At the very least, I think the word “imploding” is a bit strong.
Now, perhaps I’m misunderstanding you. If by “imploding”, you instead meant something along the lines of “the salary differential between general practitioners and specialists is so completely outrageous that our healthcare system is suffering due to a lack in the availability and quality of primary healthcare”, then maybe that was the right word to be using. But, that’s a topic for another day.
“A short-term achievable goal would be to accelerate the process of getting electronic medical records into physicians’ offices, ” [Doig] said.
How many decades does it take you old folks to figure this out? This should have been done years ago, and indeed in countries like Denmark they already have fully integrated EMR systems. I can build you a system, in less than a year, with less than a hundred grand, totally from scratch, that will completely blow away what’s available today. I already have experience building a complete, commercially viable software package from scratch, and you would be amazed at the technologies we have available today to make my life as a programmer that much easier and more productive. Start small, and build from there. We can easily get started by building the software to run a small family practice, then move on to integrating imaging, communication with other physicians, etc. Where we have the financial incentive to accomplish such things (like the US), it’s already happening, and I’m really excited to see what we get out of it. For just one example, take a look at hello health.
To the CMA – it’s not rocket science; you don’t need to steal more taxpayers’ dollars to do it – doctors will gladly pay out of pocket (at least, me and my friends would) to use an awesome EMR system and get rid of a receptionist’s position or two; and whatever you do, don’t get government involved in the software business – that means you too, CMA. Let me, and my tech-savvy friends, and all the other graduating doctors of my generation show you just how great running a family practice can be when we build the right software to do it.
Tags: anne doig, canada, canadian medical association, cma, electronic medical records
