TEPR, the biggest conference about nation's (painstakingly slow) progress towards electronic health records, opened in Salt Lake City on Monday and goes through Thursday. There are tracks on more aspects of EMRs than you can think of and more vendors of EMRs in the exhibit hall than there are doctors in the US using them (well, not quite). One keynote was from David Sundwall, the Utah director of health, whose state has the most advanced health network and possibly the greatest use of EMR, COPE and other electronic forms of medical record keeping -- partly driven by the Intermountain Health System, which is the market leader here and one of the most advanced in the nation. The UHIN might be a model for the RHIOs.
The other keynote was from a more fiery Dr. Rick Peters, a veteran of a couple of EMR companies. Peters blasted the industry and the government for sending its money to the old-world vendors and the non-innovative "elephant" institutions. He called for a revolution rather than an evolution as being needed to get widespread use of EMRs. Finally, the biggest talking point wasn't who was here, but who wasn't. David Brailer was a late cancellation, and his office apparently claimed that it was "scheduling conflicts" that kept him away from his Tuesday keynote.
- see this blog entry for more updates from TEPR