HITECH and Meaningful Use

"Meaningful use", two simple words that make the medical community and their suppliers skin crawl. The anger that prevails over the Washington nonsense over electronic medical records, privacy controls, and financial record protection, is an example of how you can call in 100 people to change a light bulb. You see we need lawyers, accountants, engineers, software developers, marketing experts, drug companies, legislators, czars, state and local officials, advocacy groups, lobbyists, insurance executives, and others (if you can believe it there are others) to come up with a way to make life miserable for doctors. You know the people who actually spend 7-10 years of their life preparing for the chance to make sure the rest of us have a better quaility of life by becoming a physician.

This is not a new look at what is going on in healthcare. It's just my opinion on the subject. In my interviews with doctors I found a lot of anger over the issue. The ambiguity of the laws and the almost impossible ability to ever enforce the regulations means that doctors will never be comfortable that they are in compliance. Imagine telling your kid..."Son, I have some new rules that you have to figure out how to comply with and if you don't understand them ask your congressman to explain them to you. Oh and by the way if you don't follow them you will be severely punished and will have to give me all the money you earned helping 80 year old Ms. Smith clean her yard." That's what healthcare pros are hearing.