Few doctors use electronic medical records, survey finds

Electronic health records are part of most prescriptions to improve medical care, but only a small fraction of physicians actually use them, a new survey led by Boston researchers says. That falls far short of goals for widespread implementation by 2014, as proposed by President Bush.

Only 4 percent of doctors seeing outpatients use fully functional health record systems and another 13 percent have basic models, according to a study led by Catherine M. DesRoches of Massachusetts General Hospital and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. Among the have-nots, 16 percent said they had bought systems but not installed them and 26 percent said they planned to buy them within the next two years.

Doctors who used electronic health records were more likely to be young, provide primary care, practice in large groups or in hospitals, and live in the western United States, according to a national survey of 2,758 ambulatory care physicians that the authors say is the first comprehensive study on the subject. Physicians using the electronic records said they were satisfied with how they improved communication and helped avoid medication problems.

The biggest barrier to adopting electronic health records is the cost of putting systems into place, coupled with a concern about whether that investment will be recouped, survey respondents said. They also worried about picking the right kind of system and whether it would quickly become obsolete.

“Physicians who use these systems like them,” DesRoches said in a conference call with reporters today. But "clearly we’re a long way from near-universal adoption by 2014.”