Journal Articles Question Plan for Digital Health Records - NYTimes.com

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/business/26health.html?_r=1&hpw


Now that the federal government plans to spend $19 billion to spur the  
use of computerized patient records, the challenge of adopting the  
technology widely and wisely is becoming increasingly apparent.

Two articles, to be published on Thursday in the New England Journal  
of Medicine, point to the formidable obstacles to achieving the policy  
goal of not only installing electronic health records, but also using  
them to improve care and curb costs.

One article reports that only 9 percent of the nation’s hospitals have  
electronic health records, based on a survey of nearly 3,000  
hospitals. The study, financed by the federal government and the  
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is the most definitive measure to date  
of the use of computerized patient records by hospitals. The  
government-backed study found a far lower level of use than some  
earlier, less rigorous surveys.

The study, the authors said, measured only the adoption of digital  
patient records. The survey did not ask whether the electronic records  
were used to advance the health policy goals of the federal plan, like  
tracking the quality of care and communicating effectively with  
outside specialists and clinics to coordinate a patient’s care.



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