Advantages of Electronic Patient Records

Medical Paper Trail Takes Electronic Turn‎ 02/23/10. President Obama’s economic stimulus included $19.2 billion for health information technology, and a number of hospital systems around the country are taking advantage of this financial incentive and investing their own money to foster the creation and use of electronic records that are expected to improve the quality, efficiency and safety of medical care.

Dr. Litvin, now an internist at the Medical University of South Carolina who teaches doctors how to improve care using electronic records, pointed out that the Veterans Health Administration has used its computerized patient record system for the past decade, and its doctors report that it has greatly improved the care of some eight million veterans. Prescriptions, laboratory tests, studies, consults, reports and progress notes from all visits by patients to any Veterans Affairs hospital are stored in each patient’s electronic record. New York Times