The paperless hospital

NBC5 has a story about hospitals migrating to the digital age, ditching paper for electronic records. Doctors at Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital say it makes life in the hospital easier and more efficient.

The push for electronic medical records is gaining momentum, though some are critical of the movement.

However, we don't live in a paper world anymore (this coming from a former print reporter who now works for an online news site). At his speech to the American Medical Association Monday, President Barack Obama made the case for electronic records:

It simply doesn’t make sense that patients in the 21^st century are still filling out forms with pens on papers that have to be stored away somewhere. As Newt Gingrich has rightly pointed out, we do a better job tracking a FedEx package in this country than we do tracking a patient’s health records. You shouldn’t have to tell every new doctor you see about your medical history, or what prescriptions you’re taking. You should not have to repeat costly tests. All of that information should be stored securely in a private medical record so that your information can be tracked from one doctor to another – even if you change jobs, even if you move, and even if you have to see a number of different specialists.

In April, Obama announced the creation of electronic military records, to coordinate efforts between the Department of Defense and the VA.

And closer to home, the Cook County Health and Hospital System is raving about its new computer system that is coordinating medical efforts between departments. The large amounts of analysis and better record keeping have doctors ecstatic about electronic records.

It makes sense to do it, I think. I'm constantly amazed when I come across businesses or government agencies that don't use electronic records. It's the equivalent of a cash-only gas station (or using actual quarters to pay for parking. Ha!). Electronic records - in any business - are more efficient, better for the environment and in line with where society is going.

It looks like Chicago is figuring that out.