News
The Affordable Care Act and the drive for electronic health records: Are small practices being squeezed?
Many small practices find the expense of implementation to be a challenge, but data suggest physicians are getting on board the EHR wagon
Related Article: ACOG to legislators: Partnership, not interference Lucia DiVenere, MA (April 2013)
What’s happening now
As this article is going to press, enrollment in the marketplaces is getting easier, with Web site fixes and useful alternatives to Web-based enrollment. Small changes are being made to some deadlines to help people who have gotten stuck in the process. We’ll likely continue to see steps forward and back over the next many months.
Two things remain important:
We need to stick with the facts. If you see something in the news that seems too crazy to be real, your hunch may be right.
Your patients can benefit significantly from the ACA. An ACOG Fellow recently told me about one of his patients who has a severe health condition, no insurance, and needs expensive treatment. The ACA, with its marketplace rules outlawing exclusions for preexisting conditions and offering premium assistance, may be a lifesaver to her. But first she needs to enroll.
As your patients’ trusted physician, you can help point them in the right direction, possibly toward coverage that they never had before.
That’s good for all of us.
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