Originally Published MDDI November 2001
U.S. Trails in Use of Electronic Patient Records
Efforts to significantly reduce the risk of medical errors have targeted the implementation of electronic patient records and prescription system. Healthcare systems are finding, however, that adopting such technology-based systems can be slow, difficult, and expensive. In the view of some experts, U.S. healthcare providers are not implementing these systems as rapidly as they should. In fact, there are some indications that the United States is moving more slowly than some other English-speaking nations.
Harris Interactive research suggests that relatively few U.S. physicians use electronic records or prescriptions. A physician survey conducted last year for the Harvard School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund's International Health Care Symposium found that the use of such systems is much more advanced in Britain, New Zealand, and Australia than in the United States.
The biggest differences between countries were found in the use of electronic systems by primary care physicians in comparison with specialists. For example, 17% of primary care physicians in the United States reported "sometimes" using electronic medical records, compared with 25% in Australia, 52% in New Zealand, and 59% in the United Kingdom.
Copyright ©2001 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry
