Electronic Health Records Improve Care Quality, But With an Expensive Price Tag

Electronic Health Records Improve Care Quality, But With an Expensive Price Tag in General Healthcare

This week, the New England Journal of Medicine published a national survey of 2,758 physicians asking them about electronic medical records.

The survey, partly funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that very few doctors were using a complete electronic system, reported USA Today.

Only 4 percent of doctors used a system that not only helped store a patient’s medical records electronically, but also had safety features to reduce medical errors such as alerting doctors of possible negative drug interactions.

Thirteen percent had a basic electronic system with no safety measures, and 42 percent are planning on making the move eventually, wrote the article.

So what’s the hold up? Cost.

According the USA Today article, making the move to an electronic system can cost a doctor upwards of $40,000 per year — and sometimes more once the cost of tech support is included.

With those high costs, it’s no wonder doctors are slow to make the switch to an electronic medical records system.

But it’s not like doctors don’t think electronic records are good idea.

And now doctors can see very strong evidence that an electronic system has a huge positive impact on health care quality, thanks to the government-sponsored study.

“Certainly, the idea of electronic records is terrific. But if we don’t see patients, we don’t get paid. The economics of it just seem so daunting,” said a New Jersey doctor in an interview with The New York Times.

Unfortunately, the high price tag means slow movement.

“We are [still] a long way from universal adoption,” said Karen Bell, from the Office of Health IT Adoption.

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