UCLA Health System promotes virtual doctor visits

The health system will allow patients to see doctors using their cell phones, computers or tablets. Meanwhile, the American Medical Association calls for boosting the quality of electronic health records and asks the Obama administration to abandon its "all or nothing approach" to the shift to digital records.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: No Time To See The Doctor? Try A Virtual Visit
Patients looking for convenient medical appointments can now see UCLA Health System doctors using their cell phones, computers or tablets. It's part of an ongoing effort at UCLA and elsewhere to extend alternatives to the in-person doctor visit to busy consumers outside rural areas (Gorman, 9/16).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Frustrated AMA Calls For 'Action Plan' On Digital Records
Saying that electronic health records distract doctors, take time away from care and make physicians less productive, an influential doctors' group called on vendors and government agencies to work with them to develop better, easier-to-use technology. The American Medical Association asked the Obama administration to abandon its "all or nothing approach" requiring Medicare providers to go digital or be penalized. The group also wants the government to develop better certification criteria for vendors selling electronic record systems (Rabin, 9/16).