- Dean's Welcome
- Programs/Departments
- Faculty & Staff Directory
- Financial Aid
- Services
- Bryan Career Services
- Undergraduate Student Services
- Study Abroad
- Centers/Offices
- Bryan School On-Campus Laptop Policy (PDF)
Conference Aims to Demystify Electronic Medical Records
Medical practices and doctors considering the adoption of electronic medical records in their offices will be able to hear the pros and cons of the transition from those who have taken the plunge at the first Electronic Medical Record Implementation Conference Thursday, May 27.
The event is sponsored by the McDowell Research Center for Global IT Management in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The conference lineup includes an overview of the state of electronic medical records, presentations from medical practices that have switched to electronic medical records and presentations from electronic medical record vendors.
"Health care information technology is a big issue as health care costs keep growing in the U.S. with no end in sight," said Dr. Prashant Palvia, director of the McDowell Research Center. "President Obama has made it a priority to introduce health care technology, so there's a lot of federal funding available."
But, even with the financial incentive, the adoption rate in the industry is low, at less than 20 percent nationwide that meets the criteria of meaningful use, Palvia added. "Physicians and medical offices are struggling on how to transition into them. There are lots of issues related to costs, benefits, meaningful use, resistance to change as well as implementation obstacles. What we want to do is hold this conference to go over some of the major issues with electronic medical records."
The keynote will be given by Dr. Hadley Callaway, past president of the N.C. Medical Society and a member of Gov. Beverly Perdue's Health Information Technology Taskforce. He'll speak on "Unexpected Consequences of HIE (Health Information Exchange) on Medical Practice."
Attendees will also have the opportunity to query practitioners and office managers who have already made the switch to electronic medical records, including Dr. Sam Cykert, program chief of the Internal Medicine Teaching Program for the Greensboro Area Health Education Center; Larry Mandelkehr, director of the Performance Improvement Department at UNC Health Care; and Dr. Bruce Swords, who works in internal medicine at LeBauer Healthcare.
Registration for the conference starts at $30 for students with valid ID, $120 for a professional, $240 for two or three people from the same organization and $300 for four or five people from the same organization.