I try to make it a point to find medical blogs that stay up to date on the latest emergency medicine developments. You may be especially interested in two articles. One discusses strategy and technology architecture issues associated with the future development of EMR. The other is a study about how to curtail the overuse of the ED by frequent users.

What is happening with the $19 billion stimulus aimed at modernizing EMR?

In this Forbes article by contributor Dave Chase, Health Systems Spending Billions to Prepare for the “Last Battle”, Chase talks about how designers of the next generation EMR will have to create a system that is more nimble, affordable and person centric. He explores how health systems are currently working to meet this future amidst the many challenges. Consideration is given to how a constantly changing technology architecture that creates a new software playing field every 5-10 years could impact this development.

Study suggests new ways to slash ED Overuse.

In this article by Kevin B. O’Reilly of amednews.com, O’Reilly highlights ‘Innovative Ways to Slash ED Overuse’. According to data from Spectrum Health System in Michigan, repeat users account for an inordinately large percentage of ED patients. This study finds that 950 patients accounted for 20,000 total visits and $40 million in costs in one year. This study examines what can be done to reroute these repeat ED users.