I am the manager of my wife's Alternative Medicine MD practice. Instead of the focus on Electronic Records, my following remark would save tens of billions of dollars. What should be done is to teach patients to keep a chart of their own important records. President Obama, who is a great speaker, could lead the way, but he won't. Patients should be given, or mailed, copies of important reports, diagnostics tests, radiology reports, etc. Instead of moving away from "paper", money would be saved by patients showing "personal responsibility". Presently, Radiology facilities, for example, only give patients a disk, but no report is available at that time. Most patients are unaware of this. Responsible patients would be able to carry their important records to other physicians, without any super-complex technology. Never mind, This is too simple!