Opinion: Technology must let doctors be doctors

When my doctor walks into the exam room, I want her to pay attention to me, not the computer. Not only is that what all patients want, but it's what doctors want, too. Yet doctors today are under pressure to feed the digital beasts. Health care's latest best-selling M.D. author, Bob Watcher, says that in a 10-hour shift a single doctor might record 4,000 clicks. Worse, much of this activity is routine census taking, driven by insurers and regulators who assume digitization makes it easy to gather statistical data, regardless of whether it contributes to the quality of care.