Al

In the interest of encouraging widespread and rapid adoption of EMRs, I would like to propose a more rational bill. The medical world would be far better served by the passage of a health care IT (EMR) “Lemon Law,”—a money-back guarantee that takes the risk out of buying an EMR. This would protect physicians from the disastrous effects of purchasing a CCHIT-certified (or other) EMR that they find unusable. It would give practices confidence that if their physicians cannot use the EMR because it is cumbersome, negatively effects productivity causing a back-up of patients in the waiting room, or adversely affects their income, they would not lose their sizable investments. In support of the EMR incentives included in the federal Economic Stimulus legislation, the bill would also include financial protection for those physicians who are just not able to demonstrate “meaningful use” of their certified EMR and therefore are not successful in collecting the hoped-for incentive funds.

Of course, this bill, like Assemblyman Conaway’s, would include penalties for vendors that sell such products—$1,000 for the first offense, $2,000 for the second, and $5,000 for each subsequent sale!