AAFP seeking support for low-cost EMR

Development of electronic medical records software depends upon the investment of other medical societies.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. Feb. 17, 2003.

The American Academy of Family Physicians is trying to recruit other medical societies, including the AMA, to help fund development of a low-cost, open-source electronic medical record.

The AAFP's board last month agreed to invest an undisclosed amount in a nonprofit foundation to manage the EMR project, but that funding is contingent on the AAFP recruiting at least three other medical societies as partners.

The AAFP has asked the AMA, the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to participate, said David Kibbe, MD, AAFP director of health information technology. He declined to say how much money each society was asked to contribute.

The AMA said it could not comment because it had not seen the proposal. The three specialty societies each said they are discussing the proposal but have not made a decision.

The proposal also is subject to the AAFP obtaining an additional $1.5 million from nonprofit organizations that have previously funded health care technology projects, Dr. Kibbe said.

The AAFP is seeking to develop open-source EMR software because its members want EMRs but can't afford to buy existing systems, Dr. Kibbe said.

"The cost really starts at about $10,000 per doctor per year for a decent EMR."

The medical society believes it can help physicians overcome the cost barrier because, under the open-source software model, doctors would not have to pay annual licensing fees associated with commercial EMRs. Also, when software is developed in an open-source environment, a large number of users and programmers have access to the underlying source code of a software program and would make changes using open standards, making the software compatible with other technologies and less expensive than proprietary software.