So far as I know, version 4 and 5 of AC are still available, and can be used by those who just want a simple EMR. So I don't see much point in all this carping.
Nonetheless, the Gummint has thrown down the gauntlet -- and tossed a bone just beyond it. We are all in this together. Trying to be meaningful, trying to be good doctors, trying to do what our Leaders have mandated -- and just trying to get through the day. And maybe get the brass ring if we stay on the merry-go-round long enough.
So, we go on with V. 5 and then V.6 and maybe someday, lucky 7 -- all the while hoping that something good this way will come.
My office is now a snarl of computers, laptops, tablets, scanners, printers -- things randomly don't talk to each other, and I am pushing the limits of Windows, hoping I don't have to break down and get server software and all that entails.
I vaguely remember the days when we had a pegboard accounting system, and patients paid their bills and collected from their insurance companies themselves. I am trying to be modern, but honestly, can't see that what we have is better for patients -- however much it is exciting and cutting edge and globalized. And, Lord knows, "meaningful."
