When I go to some of my doctors, they don't look me in the face any more; instead they are looking at a computer screen and typing something while they talk to me.  I feel like they are paying more attention to the computer than to me.  What is going on?

Your doctor is following a government mandate to change the way he or she conducts an office visit and the way he or she practices.  Your doctor has installed an electronic medical records system, otherwise known as an electronic health record (EHR).   During your interview, the doctor is following a script crafted by a computer programmer according to government guidelines which forces your doctor to ask proscribed questions and to do proscribed parts of a physical exam in order to get paid for your visit.  The doctor is filling out an electronic questionnaire describing your medical history and physical exam; your answers to the questions asked and the findings on your physical examination will be stored in the doctor's computer in your record for that day's visit.  If you have laboratory tests or x-rays, some day the reports of those tests will be transmitted electronically from the laboratory or the x-ray facility and stored in your computer file at the doctor's office.  Government planners have plans in motion to require doctors to set up "patient portals" so that you can use your internet access to look at your record and your test reports in the doctor's computer without needing to return to the doctor's office.   Any of that information can be sent to another doctor you see as a report of your visit for that day and any of your information can be viewed over the internet by government health care planners some day in the future for a variety of research purposes.