Lamenting documentation requirements is as old as Medicaid itself. With more and more oversight by governing bodies and the burdens of "quality-metrics", the pe

Lamenting documentation requirements is as old as Medicaid itself. With more and more oversight by governing bodies and the burdens of "quality-metrics", the personal connection with carers will be increasingly distant. I love electronic records because I don't have to handwrite anymore, and all the data I need is just a few clicks away. The problem isn't the electronic nature of the records, but rather the reporting and documentation requirements that come with it. Why are there increased amounts of documentation required? Because it is a form of rationing: make patient care so time consuming that fewer patients can be seen, and less can be billed long term. It really is a pernicious way to decrease healthcare expenses, but it comes at the cost of depersonalizing patients, physicians, and nurses. That, and also legal protections because lawyers exploit any "bad outcome" as negligence, even though no negligence occurred.