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Dental EHRs are Coming to an End

By Darrell Pruitt DDS

The reckless third-party push for adoption of increasingly dangerous dental EHR systems is the most harmful scam in the history of dentistry.

But it’s almost over, Doc. Equifax was hacked.

“If a company like Equifax can make significant investments, have every incentive to keep the most sensitive kind of information secure, but still experience a breach … it stands to reason that our playbook needs a revision,”

Josh Mayfield: [Platform Specialist at Firemon Immediate Insight]. (See: “Equifax, U.S. consumers alike will struggle to overcome massive hack” By Tim Johnson for Mcclatchy, September 8, 2017).

Http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article172078982.html

Why should anyone assume electronic dental records are any more secure than Equifax records?

Not only do digital health records subject Americans to increasing risk of medical identity theft – which can be lethal – but they are increasingly more expensive than paper dental records.

What’s more, electronic dental records offer dental patients NO TANGIBLE BENEFITS:  When is the last time you witnessed a practice advertise the benefits of digital records? On the other hand, you may have also noticed the appearance of paper files in the backgrounds of promotional photos.

A decade ago, I tried to persuade American Dental Association leadership to consider de-identification of dentists’ primary dental records. After all, if identities are unavailable, they simply cannot be stolen. ADA leadership summarily discarded the idea in favor of full disk encryption – which dentists summarily rejected in favor of luck …. And so here we are, Doc. “First, do no harm.”

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Dental EHR vendors simply will not survive transparency without fundamental changes in how patients’ welfare is guarded – which will further increase their cost and liability.

The future is obvious, yet I am the only dentist in the nation openly warning of the inevitable collapse of the electronic dental record industry. Unlike physicians, who treat four to five times as many patients a day and depend on quick interoperability with other physicians, dentists can safely return to paper. They won’t like the inconvenience of carbon paper, but following the Equifax breach of almost half of the nation’s consumers – virtually every one of them mad as hell – dentists will have no choice. Ehrs have become too costly.

Assessment

This week, a dentist on Facebook who tried but failed to defend the censorship habits of a popular dental consultant said I was on a “one-man crusade.” I don’t think he meant it in the good way. I ask you to remember that remark for future reference.

Conclusion

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OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

• PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
• HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
• CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
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• FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
• INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
• Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
• Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security
• Dictionary of Health Insurance and Managed Care

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Filed under: Information Technology, Pruitt's Platform | Tagged: Darrell K. Pruitt DDS, Dental EHRs are Coming to an End?, eDRs, EHRs | 3 Comments »