At a policy conference sponsored by the National Committee for Quality Assurance in Washington, David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology at HHS, said that a recent study of physician practices showed that 20% were using electronic health records in 2008. Of those users, 90% said they were satisfied with the technology "and could point to quality improvements" as a result of using electronic records.
Even for those physicians who had complaints about using the technology, "it's clear that very few physicians would go back to paper-based records," he said.
Blumenthal reiterated his commitment to issue proposed rules on the so-called "meaningful use" of EHRs last month, as well as offer grants to establish 70 health IT regional extension centers nationwide that will offer technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to support and accelerate providers' efforts to become meaningful users of EHRs.
Source: Modern Healthcare News
