Contra Costa County doctors air complaints about new $45M computer system

One of every 10 emergency room patients at the county's public hospitals in September left without ever being seen by a doctor or nurse because of long waits—a number rising since implementation of Contra Costa's $45 million computer system July 1. One patient waited 40 hours to get a bed. Dr. Brenda Reilly delivered the troubling news Tuesday afternoon to county supervisors. She was one of three dozen doctors in the supervisors' chamber complaining about EPIC, new computer software aimed at integrating all of the county's health departments to create a federally mandated electronic medical record for patients.