Costs Crimp Adoption of Electronic Health Records

Well the battle is over as far as electronic medical records being beneficial. Cost has always been an issue, but even more so now. At the HIMMS annual convention this year I did an interview and was asked the exact same question, what is taking so long, same answer, cost and money. Here’s a related story about what is being done at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, they are subsidizing and helping their community physicians. Stark allows for an 85/15 split, so there is some investment on the physician’s part, but that sure beats 100%. BD

Only 4% of docs have implemented electronic health records with all the bells and whistles that wonks say will make care safer and more efficient. And only another 13% have implemented electronic records of any sort. The main factor preventing most physicians from adopting EHRs — all together now — is cost.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/06/18/costs-crimp-adoption-of-electronic-health-records/