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GOODBYE MANILA FOLDER
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 -- 2:10 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
 For years, the trip to the doctor’s office has featured some familiar sights and sounds. The nurse taking your pulse and temperature, asking you some questions, and the doctor knocking on the door, coming in and dropping a manila folder on the table.
That folder contains your medical history.
But more and more hospitals and clinics are getting rid of the hardcopies and moving to digital records.
Memorial Medical Center CEO Scott Polenz says they’re about ready to take the plunge.
"Everybody's information will be in the computer," Polenz explains, "so, our physicians will either be in a tablet or laptop-type of computer and able to pull up somebody's charts."
"It's very exciting for both the physicians and the patients," Polenz says.
The government is definitely applying some pressure for providers to make the change. Polenz admits it’s a bit “overwhelming.” Decisions will have to be made as to how many years of records are stored electronically.
"You could pay a lot of money and scan records for 10 years. A lot places don't do that, just because of the time and the cost, they would just move forward. So you might have a combination of a paper record and electronic record," he says.
Polenz says they plan to present some information to the Board in October. They’re waiting for word on grant they’ve applied for through the federal government.
Officials hope a decision is made by the end of the year. The transition could take around 9 months, so it’s conceivable MMC will have electronic medical records sometime late next year.
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