Information technology: E-records
must be treated with caution

The Financial Times / United Kingdom
September 30, 2009

Over the next five years, the U.S. government will inject $19.2 billion dollars into healthcare IT, with the goal of providing electronic medical records for all citizens by 2014. The Obama Administration believes use of electronic records will cut costs and improve results by reducing errors and improving care, thus modernizing the now fragmented healthcare system.

Few observers would question the merit of adopting electronic medical records or doubt that they will bring better care. Some employers and IT companies have already started to develop and deploy their own health record systems but this could potentially set the scene for a conflict between healthcare providers and patients over who should access and control electronic records.

A greater concern is whether personal records (PHRs) can or should be integrated with hospital or provider-based electronic records. Doctors may be unwilling to rely on information in a PHR.

Some clinicians worry that personal records might weaken the patient-doctor relationship, exposing physicians to liability issues.

“We are working to connect personal health records to the health information exchange, rather than relying on paper forms,” says Irene Koch, executive director of the Brooklyn Health Information Exchange (BHIX) in New York. Ms. Koch adds that systems aimed at clinical use need to ensure data quality. And consent remains an issue.

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