by Michele Catahay

Guam - The Guam Medical Society is scheduled to meet this evening where representatives from the Hawaii Pacific Region Extension Centers are talking to health care providers about a program that could help the island as a whole. GMS secretary Dan Del Priore said, "The whole thing behind their program and their center is that the federal government wants all medical people and hospitals to enter into an electronic health record and an electronic prescribing program. In fact, this is mandatory for the Medicare and Medicaid programs."

Society co-president Dr. Sam Friedman says the electronic health record will help physicians and clinics become more organized, saying, "The prescriptions, as well. As you know, there is often mistakes that happen because the nurses can't read what the doctor wrote or the pharmacists can't read what the doctor wrote. This is going to be on internet and there wouldn't be a big problem at all."

The meeting is being held at the VIP Restaurant in Tumon.