EMR Tea Party, EMR Scribes, Older MDs, and MU+

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This tweet is a little self serving since it links to my post on EMR and EHR about what I call the EMR Tea Party. Although, Charles Webster, MD’s response was too funny not to share. I haven’t seen any pitchforks or torches yet, and someone commented that Tea Party is a tainted term that shouldn’t be used, but I think there are some parallels.


EMR Scribes seem to be growing slowly in popularity. $10/hour does seem low for someone who needs to have some clinical understanding and more important clinical vocabulary. However, I imagine if the cost goes too high, then no doctor would ever get a scribe.


I think there’s definitely a gulf between those doctors that can type and those that can’t. Age is definitely correlated to typing speed. Although, I’m not sure I agree that tabets are the answer to this problem. One thing that is certain is that EMRs in their current form aren’t using an optimized UI for tablets. We’ll see if any EMR can bridge the tablet UI and make the case for touchscreen documentation by doctors. I’m skeptical that a nice tablet UI can replace type/text for most doctors.


This is a very interesting tweet from John Sharp. He’s right in many regards. There are plenty of elements of HITECH that don’t get enough exposure, but I’m not sure how many of those other HITECH elements really move the needle.