Electronic medical records (EMR) are considered a major step in the way to eliminate older paper file system. However, a new study is questioning the outcome and the actual benefits of the existing electronic systems and suggests that EMR did not significantly improve patient life spans or reduce costs. The study was published in the April issue of Health Affairs.
The study lead author Dr. Catherine DesRoches, of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, said "We are still in the early days of electronic health record adoption, and there's little evidence for how best to implement the technology to make the greatest gains," she added "Hospitals may not see the benefit of these systems until they are fully implemented, or it may take many years for benefits to become apparent," The study evaluated the outcome of the application of EMR by revising results of a 2008 national survey of acute care hospitals, nearly 3,000 hospitals responded.
Dr. DesRoches said "Our findings suggest that hospitals need to pay special attention to how they implement these systems. Simply having the technology available is probably not going to be enough," she added "Hospitals will need to effectively integrate new systems into their current practices. Studying institutions that have been successful will provide important lessons for everyone."
