Electronic health records are the cornerstone of President Obama's new health care reform plan. The Democratic House and Senate have exercised their power to push through a plan that will establish a functioning electronic health records system in just five years. It will cost billions of dollars to set up but is projected to save billions of dollars in future health care costs. Most people see these savings in large medical institutions and the massive health care machine. We shouldn't forget the smaller organizations throughout the country.

Dwight, Illinois is one of the smaller towns in the United States. With a population of less than 5,000 people, some might consider Dwight the perfect place to raise a family. In fact, the statistics point to that fact. The median income and house price represent a healthy middle-class population. The median age of the residents is just below 40. This is a small town that has a range of health care needs.

Dwight Illinois Hospital is there for them. It has the facilities necessary to treat the population. It is also a facility that could benefit from electronic health records. Smaller health care organizations can't afford to make mistakes and provide inefficient care. They don't maintain the same gargantuan budgets that their counterparts in Chicago, New York or other major cities do. Each error avoided pays off ten-fold at the smaller health care facility.

Major leaders such as President Obama will probably never visit Dwight Hospital. However, everyone will appreciate the benefits achieved through the use of electronic health records. There are other similar towns across the country that will experience bursts in efficiency from this change. Other institutions such as the Watseka Illinois Hospital can minimize errors and streamline care amongst its own 5,000 residents.

Electronic health records provide a seamless communication system between small health care facilities and other institutions across the country. If a small town resident has to visit a larger city, in this case Chicago, for a specialized test. He is no longer saddled with the responsibility of making sure records and information make it to and from the appropriate providers. The computer system already handles the management of data that used to be handled on paper.

In addition to the efficiency, the establishment of an electronic health records system will protect all of our records from accidental destruction. It's a fact that smaller towns are less likely to have safe, secure and offsite backup of their sensitive medical records. One catastrophic event - a fire, a bad storm - could destroy the valuable records of the community. However, with electronic health records, the data is backed up and secured at a variety of locations.

Regardless of the size of the town, electronic health records allow doctors and health care professionals to speak to each other at the same level. The small, single provider institution can exchange data with the large "super hospitals" in the big city. The interested parties can work together on the task of better health rather than wasting time on paperwork.



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