Don’t Get Sick in St. Louis (part 3)
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This is part 3 in a multi-part article on the US Healthcare system. Read Part 2.
One way was through the use of electronic patient records. About 20% of hospitals have put their patient records in electronic format but there are several competing and proprietary systems out there. The VA is the only system in the country where you can walk in and the doctor that sees you will have your complete medical history on file. The importance of this was shown with Hurricane Katrina as thousands of people had to permanently flee their homes and records were destroyed.
This also greatly reduces complications from drug interactions, can your parents or grandparents remember the type and dosage of every drug they take? Electronic records give doctors instant access to these records. They also help in other ways. Have you ever looked down at a prescription and wondered what the hell the doctor wrote? While a pharmacist should have a better idea, studies have shown that up to 8% of prescriptions are filled incorrectly. An article in the January 2005 issue of Psychiatric Services published by the APA, a study was cited that was done in 1988 showed that 2.8% of all hospital admissions were due to drug interactions. The article states that this costs the healthcare system $1.3 billion.
The VA’s prescription system is also electronic and has reduced the VA’s prescription error rate to 0.003%. Using the 8% rate quoted above, the private sector makes 2,667 mistakes for each mistake the VA makes. And when the VA makes a mistake, it actually owns up to it. In another bid to provide great patient care doctors have to apologize to patients families if there are any mistakes made in care. You won’t see that at other hospitals where the fear of malpractice is so pervasive that you will never get a straight answer for what happened.
It’s all a focus on patient care and responsibility that has grown up in the VA according to a researcher on health care issues. And it shows why the VA has exploded in terms of quality of patient care and patient satisfaction.
Is the VA the future for health care in America? For all of our sakes, I certainly hope so.