The following blog gives a very positive impression of the current state of ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS and ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS, but is this really the case? Please read this Blog discussion first..............and then see my reply afterwards:

http://publichealthonline.gwu.edu/data-behind-electronic-health-rec...

While this description presents almost a "glowing image" of EHR {and/or EMR}, the reality is that over 2700 companies / vendors have sprung up that provide such software - what does this in itself tell you? But more importantly, most of these Electronic Health Records do NOT meet one of the bullet point of "Meaningful Use", namely that the data must be "transparent" and immediately useful to others and additionally to statistical and predictive analytic analysis; instead the data tend to be hidden in "black boxes" where it is almost impossible, in many cases, to get the raw data......I am well aware of this, as am in the final stages of writing a book on Practical Predictive Analytics and Decisioning for Medicine, during which I've had to thoroughly explore MEANINGFUL USE and EMR and EHR ........ while the Rand Study predicted that this would us health dollars, in reality it has cost over $9-BILLION more since 2006......Even an updated Rand Study has said this has "been a mistake"......and I believe we really need to start over again "from scratch" to meet the goals that are described here ........if we in the USA really want to get our health care costs under control !!!