On Jan. 21, MedPage Today published an op-ed titled “Death by 10,000 Clicks: The Electronic Health Record.” In the op-ed, neurosurgeons Anthony M. DiGiorgio, DO, MHA, FAANS, and Praveen V. Mummaneni, MD, MBA, FAANS, discuss the burden of electronic health records (EHR) at their institution, the University of California San Francisco. Drs. DiGiorgio and Mummaneni audited EHR logs to examine their neurosurgery residents’ work and better understand the benefits and burdens. The results found that on-call residents spent 20 hours logged into the EHR over a single shift. They are detracting from trainees’ educational experience, and health care costs are increasing because of the inefficiencies that come with EHRs.
On Jan. 26, Neurosurgery Blog published a cross-post to amplify the message. The Alliance of Specialty Medicine also included the article in its winter newsletter, which is broadly distributed to all members of Congress and other policymakers.
