Electronic Health Records Unpopular

Ivanhoe Newswire

(Ivanhoe Newswire) According to a recent study, only a small percentage of doctors are using an electronic health record system.

Researchers administered a survey to 2,758 physicians in the United States between September 2007 and March 2008 to assess the adoption of outpatient electronic health records and physician satisfaction with such systems. Findings show only 17 percent of physicians have adopted electronic health records system. Four percent have adopted an extensive, fully functional system, and 13 percent have adopted a basic system. Fully functional systems provide a way to record patients clinical and demographic data, manage results of laboratory tests and imaging, and manage order entries like prescriptions. These systems even warn physicians of drug interactions. Basic systems lack certain order-entry capabilities and clinical-decision support that the fully functional systems have.

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Overall, doctors who use electronic health records seem highly satisfied with the results. Among doctors with a fully functional version of the system, 93 percent reported being satisfied with it, with timely access to medical records being the highest rated feature. Among those with basic systems, 88 percent reported being satisfied.

Primary care physicians and those practicing in large groups, hospitals or medical centers, as well as physicians in the western United States, were more likely to use electronic health records. The most commonly cited reason for not adopting the electronic system was cost.

President Bush has proposed that electronic health records be widespread in the United States health care system by 2014, and both presidential candidates are emphasizing the importance of implementing this same system.

SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, 2008;359:50-60

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