By: Dale Weckbacher
Matthew 8:16-17
When evening had
come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the
spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
"He Himself took
our infirmities
And bore our
sicknesses."
NKJV
As we see the best healthcare system in the world crumble
under the weight of Obamacare, I find it comforting that I can still pray to
the great physician for healing when all else fails. However, there are people that God has given
a special gift of healing and we are blessed to have many of these individuals
working in the healthcare industry.
Unfortunately, under the new regulations of Obamacare, many of these
people are retiring or going into other professions.
I am one of those who lost his doctor through retirement in
spite of the fact President Obama promised I could keep my doctor. My doctor did not provide any details of why
he retired but when I found another doctor I found out that my doctor retired
because he did not want to participate in the Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
mandate of Obamacare. At first I believed
this was due to my doctor, who was old school, did not want to use the computer
but I now know that it was a business decision on his part.
On Wednesday march 26, 2014, Alabama Representative Mo
Brooks read a letter on the floor of the House sent to him by Dr. Marlin Gill
of Decatur. The letter provides a
doctors perspective of the excessive burden Obamacare's costs and regulations
are placing on doctors, which will affect patient care. Dr. Gill calls these excessive regulations a
war against doctors. (1)
Health and Human Services (HHS) told doctors that EMR would
reduce administrative costs and paperwork.
(2) However, according to Dr. Gill implementation
of the EMR mandate has increased work hours, wasted costs, decreased
efficiency, and led to a declining in the ability of doctors to focus on
patient care. Dr. Gill goes on to cite
at least six doctors in his community that have left patient care for
administrative positions or to start a concierge practice. Some, like my doctor, have retired altogether. (1)
What lawmakers failed to take into consideration when they
implemented EMR was that someone has to enter in the data that goes into the
database, the data does not just magically appear. This is similar to what happens in any
business. I work as an accounting
professional and spend much of my time entering data into a database that
management of the company uses to make financial decisions for the company. (1) The difference with EMR is the doctor is, or
should be, the decision maker when it comes to patient care but under these regulations,
doctors also have to work as the data entry personnel entering data into the
database.
In addition to the waste of time as doctors have to pull
double duty as data entry clerks and patient care decision makers, doctors must
incur additional costs to come into compliance with the new regulations. For Example Dr. Gill cites that in his four
doctor practice incurred $100,000 plus to come into compliance with EMR
requirements. (1)
If that is not enough of a burden, doctors are also required
to use the ICD-10 coding system, which contains an entirely new set of
reimbursement diagnosis codes. Of course
this means doctors will have to pay for training their staff to learn these new
codes and errors will occur as their staff becomes accustomed to using the new
codes, meaning that doctors will experience delays, or even denial of
reimbursement from insurance carriers.
We must also consider the old adage “garbage in garbage out”
which applies to all computer databases.
A doctor writing for the Independent Women’s Voice cited an instance
where data, incorrectly entered into a database, stated that one of her
patients had an adverse reaction to X-ray die.
This patient has a history of breast cancer and the doctor frequently is
required to order tests using X-ray die.
The doctor and her staff wastes hours of time convincing the facility to
conduct the test because they must convince them that the entry in the database
is erroneous and needs correction.
Unfortunately, any attempt to correct the entry ends with the IT
department telling the doctor that there is no current mechanism to correct the
error. (3) Of course what else would we expect from the
same people that wrote the software for the Obamacare website?
This is just another example of how Obamacare is destroying
the best healthcare system in the world.
Not only are individuals losing their health insurance and thus their
ability to pay for health care when the need it, we will now begin experiencing
a doctor shortage as doctors shut down their practices. Doctors that remain in practice will be
required to waste time entering data into a database and trying to correct
incorrect data entered by other doctors.
Jesus is called the great physician and in his ministry went
about healing the sick. God has gifted certain
individuals with the ability to learn about the human body and treat our
illnesses. However, things like
Obamacare cause these gifted individuals to waste time with administrative
duties in order to comply with some massive government program instead of using
the gifts God has given them. It is time
we took of the shackles of government interference so these gifted individuals
can do what God created them to do, treat the sick.
1. Hulsey, Emily. One Doctor’s Viral Letter
Exposes the Harrowing Reality of Obamacare’s ‘War Against Doctors’. www.ijreview.com.
[Online] Independent Journal Review, March 28, 2014. [Cited: March 31,
2014.] http://www.ijreview.com/2014/03/124716-one-doctors-viral-letter-exposes-harrowing-reality-obamacares-war-doctors.
2. Health and Human
Services. Key Features of the Affordable Care Act By year. www.hhs.gov. [Online]
Health and Human Services. [Cited: March 31, 2014.]
http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/timeline-text.html.
3. Independent
Women's Voice. Another ObamaCare Pipe Dream: Electronic Medical Records. www.iwvoices.com.
[Online] Independent Women's Voice. [Cited: March 31, 2014.]
http://www.iwvoices.com/detail.php?c=1391468&t=Another-ObamaCare-Pipe-Dream%3A-Electronic-Medical-Records.
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