INSIGHT: Opportunities in Obama's Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Initiative

Antonio "Tony" DaSilva of WritersUA wrote an article entitled "No Fuss Accessibility" that should be required reading for all technical writers. Joe Welinkske, user assistance consultant and evangelist at WritersUA, posted the article in the Technical Writer of Writers LinkedIn Group.

According to Tony, "Section 508 refers to specific parts of the "Rehabilitation Act of 1973" requiring Federal agencies and companies doing business on their behalf to provide Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities access to electronic information that is comparable to what is available for persons without disabilities."

I hear you saying to yourself,"Why should I care? I'm not a Federal employee. My company doesn't do business with the government." There are 100 million reasons to care: Per President Obama's proposal, it's going to cost $100 million to standardize all healthcare records and make them electronic in five years (per independent studies at Harvard, RAND, and the Commonwealth Fund in Massachusetts). Somebody's got to write, edit, and publish all this "accessible documentation," as it's being called.

Care a little bit more now? One of the biggest wins is that you can make your documents using just Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat, the two most popular tools for tech writers. The U.S. Government considers documents created with these two applications as being in compliance. Tony points out that the default versions are Word 2003 and Acrobat 7.

So, take 15 minutes and read Tony's article. He discusses successful techniques for converting Word docs to Acrobat pdfs. You'll be glad you did.

Timothy Rosa

Tim Rosa is the founder and publisher of The Business Insider.

Comments

[EMR Training]

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The U.S. Government considers documents created with these two applications as being in compliance

[internal medicine emr]

I've read in the article, "the good documents are the accessible documents". When you put it in choosing the electronic records provider, it's like "the good systems are the accessible systems". User-friendly.

-nj

[EMR]

The goal of electronic health records (and health information technology in general) is to make health care safer and more efficient by providing health professionals and patients alike with information to inform decision-making, promote preventive care and reduce duplication.

[Timothy Rosa]

You're absolutely right about the purpose of EMRs. We know, however, that there are several barriers to entry for doctors and for use by doctors and patients in clinical settings. But EMRs are a necessary step in the right direction.

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[Cecil Grass]

Good read! I am very glad that emr systems are gaining popularity. I'm using the emr system at http://www.drfirst.com and I can say that they are an invaluable asset in today's health care system. The free demo offered will convince doubters of the value of the system and the fact that going on without them would be willingly being less efficient.

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