January 01, 2016
Resolution on Electronic Medical Records
Florida Alliance for Retired Americans
Electronic medical records, as part of a secure national network of health information that is accessible by patients and health care providers, will improve health care quality and efficiency, reduce medical errors and constrain administrative and other health care costs. Electronic medical records are supported by the Institute of Medicine and by other national organizations concerned with health care quality.
- A secure platform for the exchange of electronic medical records among providers would improve patient care. All health care providers and would have access to all a patient’s medical history including medications, diagnostic tests, and the diagnoses and recommendations of each provider the patient has seen.
- The routine use of electronic health records would give health care providers and patient’s immediate access to complete patient information as well as tools to guide decision-making and help prevent errors.
- Medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year. Electronic prescribing is safer because it eliminates problems with handwriting legibility and, when combined with decision-support tools, automatically alerts prescribers to possible interactions, allergies, and other potential problems.
- Electronic medical record systems must be designed to ensure that patient privacy is protected.
Be it resolved that we support the use of electronic medical records and call upon Congress to ensure that a national system is in place by a certain date.