Hospitals and Doctors Not Sure About Electronic Medical Records
Friday, April 10th, 2009The potential for electronic medical records is touted by both health care professionals and representatives in government to cut costs and improve quality in health care. Even with this encouragement physicians are not implementing this change with any speed.
According to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, reported by the Associated Press, hospitals are not moving toward electronic medical records systems quickly.
Nationwide two percent or less of the hospitals have embraced the technology of the electronic medical records, and eight to eleven percent have implemented a starter electronic system, this from the NEJM survey. These hospitals verbalize the problem for moving to electronic records is that it costs lots of money.
Is there a standard software for the electronic records? To actually be useful in the way they should be these systems have to be standardized or at least compatible between providers of health care and the insurance companies.
To make sure this move to electronic records actually happens the Obama administration, similar to the Bush Administration, has made electronic medical records a priority. It is part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 and they’ve put $19 billion aside to provide assistance for this transition