Kentucky Doctor Falsely Blames Obamacare For Shutting Down His Practice
The physician took out an ad saying “due to the policies of Obamacare he’d be closing shop. Specifically, he says it’s because of the requirement that records be kept electronically. But that policy isn’t part of Obamacare.
Dr. Stephen Kiteck of Somerset, Ky., said the financial burden of electronic records is “too much of a burden to overcome” and that he didn’t want to “make a long-term investment” in his small medical practice.
Though Kiteck’s ad blames Obamacare, the electronic health care incentive programs were part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 — the federal stimulus act — and not part of the Affordable Care Act, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Kiteck said he is approaching retirement age, and that he and his office are “computer illiterate,” adding that he would need special training to add electronic records. He said it would be a financial burden and take “thousands of man hours or woman hours to get the records on the computer.”
