What Happens When EHRs Go Dark?

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Imagine yourself in the hospital ICU and suddenly the entire Electronic Health Record (EHR) system shuts down. Now, as far as the hospital is concerned, you have no medical history—with nurses unable to see the course of action the doctor ordered for you, your vital signs, past medications or scheduled surgeries. What’s more, your contact and personal information has been wiped out as well.

Thatʼs exactly what happened at 13 Missouri hospitals for 20 hours last month. In the meantime, nurses and doctors reverted to paper, but the mayhem was most likely palpable, with the possibility for confusion-driven mistakes highly probable, says Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, http://www.cchfreedom.org), a national organization dedicated to preserving patient-centered health care and protecting patient and privacy rights.

“Proponents of EHRs say the systems are safe, but how safe would you feel if everything about you went dark for your doctors?” Brase asks. “Because of the federal EHR mandate, patient health and safety are at greater risk. Furthermore, EHRs also put patients under an unnecessary microscope and encourage doctors to treat patients based on outcome-based payments and ‘predictive analytics’ rather than what’s best for the patient.”

The national push for EHRs is also responsible for distracting doctors and taking their focus away from patients, crushing hospitals and doctors’ offices under loads of debt, and exposing patient medical records to the ongoing threat of hackers, coupled with the access to private data by many entities, and without patient consent.

Brase talks about EHRs and other critical health care issues frequently on her daily, 60-second Health Freedom Minute radio feature. Heard on approximately 350 stations nationwide, including 200 on the American Family Radio Network and 100 on the Bott Radio Network, Health Freedom Minute helps listeners learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives, as well as steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy.

Recent Health Freedom Minute topics have included Obamacare, patient profiling, medical data privacy, Medicaid expansion and the hacking of medical records. The program is free for stations to run; for details, contact Michael Hamilton at mhamilton@hamiltonstrategies.com or (610) 584-1096 or (215) 519-4838.

For more information about CCHF and its “5C” Solution for Health Care, visit its web site at http://www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/cchfreedom or its Twitter feed, @CCHFreedom.

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., exists to protect health care choices and patient privacy. CCHF sponsors the daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute, which airs on approximately 350 stations nationwide, including 200 on the American Family Radio Network and 100 on the Bott Radio Network. Listeners can learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives and steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy.

CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy, informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform.