EHR Alone Have Limited Ability to Improve Quality of Care and Costs

Electronic health record alone may have limited ability to improve quality, costs of care 04/06/2010.  The implementation of electronic health record systems may not be enough to significantly improve health quality and reduce costs. In the April 2010 issue of Health Affairs, researchers from the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report finding that currently implemented systems have little effect on measures such as patient mortality, surgical complications, length of stay and costs. The authors note that greater attention may need to be paid to how systems are being implemented and used, with the goal of identifying best practices. Massachusetts General Hospital via Eurekalert!