While the Republican presidential primaries are far from over, the most recent polling shows that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has a comfortable lead when compared to the other top candidates in the field. This past week, Gingrich began addressing his plans for the healthcare system that, if he were elected president in 2012, could have implications for how small medical facilities and doctors around the country conduct their day-to-day activities.
Among the new initiatives that Gingrich announced to the public were programs designed to step up brain science research. His new plan would include sweeping changes to the Food and Drug Administration, the elimination of taxes that inhibit medical treatment and a research program that would study the human brain and how it works.
Noticeably absent from his discussions, however, was the mention of electronic medical records software, eprescribing or any other of the recent technological advances that have been prevalent, and largely supported, by the Obama administration. Many critics were skeptical of the lack of reference to these ideas, as he had made statements that supported them in the past.
"You can have much faster approval times because you can monitor in real time everyone who uses the drug," Gingrich told congressional news source The Hill in an interview about EMR. "And if you start getting inappropriate responses, you can change within weeks."
Regardless of the views of the Republican nominee, new medical advances are gaining widespread acceptance in the medical community for their ability to help doctors treat patients more effectively while reducing errors. As a result, medical facilities that are looking to make the transition to this cutting-edge technology may want to speak with an experienced provider that can help them decide how they can achieve the biggest benefits given their current budgets.
For example, Lytec EMR and Medisoft medical billing software, while different technologies, may each provide their own benefits that could offer immediate assistance to facilities.