Health care is a team effort. Shared information supports that effort. When all team members can communicate with each other effectively and efficiently, everyone benefits—patients, their families, and providers. The Nation's health and economy benefit as well. Electronic health record (EHR) adoption requires investment of time and money, but the benefits often outweigh the costs, and financial incentives are available to help providers make the transition.

Better Information Means Better Health Care

The main goal of health IT is to improve the quality of patient care. The promise of fully realized EHRs is having a single record that includes all of a patient's health information: a record that is up to date, complete, and accurate. That makes all providers "smarter" and in a better position to work with their patients to make good decisions.

Providers who use EHRs report tangible improvements in their ability to make better decisions with more comprehensive information. EHR adoption can give health care providers:

• Accurate and complete information about a patient's health. This enables providers to give the best possible care, whether during a routine office visit or in a medical emergency.
• The ability to better coordinate the care they give. This is especially important if a patient has a serious or chronic medical condition, such as diabetes.
• A way to share information with patients and their family caregivers. This means patients and their families can more fully take part in decisions about their health care.

More on Improved Health Care

Better Information Means Safer Health Care

Health IT can play an important role in increasing patient safety.  Specifically, EHR adoption can enhance patient safety through:

• Comprehensiveness: EHRs can give providers the information they need to evaluate a patient's current condition in the context of the patient's health history and other treatments.
• Speed: In a crisis, EHRs provide instant access to information about a patient's medical history, allergies, and medications. This can enable providers to make decisions sooner, instead of waiting for information from test results.

EHRs can also flag potentially dangerous drug interactions (to help prescribing doctors explore alternatives before a problem occurs), verify medications and dosages (to ensure that pharmacists dispense the right drug), and reduce the need for potentially risky tests and procedures.

Electronic Prescribing (e-Prescribing)

Paper prescriptions can get lost or misread. With electronic prescribing (e-prescribing), doctors communicate directly with the pharmacy. An e-prescribing system can save lives (by reducing medication errors and checking for drug interactions), lower costs, and improve care. It is more convenient, cheaper for doctors and pharmacies, and safer for patients. In short, e-prescribing is an important, high-visibility component of progress in health information exchange.

Embracing EHR Adoption: Some Facts and Figures

Health IT is where the profession is going.

• 90% of medical students consider it important or very important to have an EHR where they choose to practice ¹
• 24.9% of office-based physicians in the U.S. had adopted at least a "basic" electronic health record in 2010 ²
• 41% of office-based physicians in the U.S. planned to adopt an electronic health record and apply for meaningful use incentives in 2010 ³
• 15.2% of acute care non-federal hospitals had adopted at least a "basic" electronic health record in 2010 ⁴
• 81% of acute care non-federal hospitals planned to adopt an electronic health record and apply for meaningful use incentives in 2010 ⁵
1. ¹ "4th Annual Future Physicians of America." (2009). Epocrates. Retrieved September 29, 2010, from www.epocrates.com
2. ² SK&A data
3. ³ SK&A data
4. ⁴ American Hospital Association's Survey of IT Adoption
5. ⁵ American Hospital Association's Survey of IT Adoption

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What Does the Evidence Show?

Evidence of benefits of EHR adoption, e-prescribing, and other components of health information exchange is mounting.

• Researchers at the Center for IT Leadership (2010) studied the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an early adopter of health IT and exchange, and estimated that savings from preventing adverse drug events alone totaled $4.64 billion.
• Frisse and Holmes (2007) found that health information exchange can save cities millions both by lowering administrative costs and by improving preventative health care. For example, the researchers estimate that the Memphis region could save more than $8 million a year through a regional health information exchange.
• In Indianapolis, Finnell and Overhage (2010) found that a majority of emergency medical professionals said they benefited from access to pre-existing health information—medication lists, allergies, medical histories—through electronic exchange. Medics said the information was especially useful for patients with frequent emergencies and those who were unconscious, uncooperative, or otherwise unable to provide medics with needed information.
• Shapiro et. al. (2011) examined health information exchange projects in 48 States. Although the projects faced some financial and technical hurdles, they showed enormous potential for improving public health reporting and investigation, emergency response, and communication between public health officials and clinicians.
• Persell et. al (2011) found that EHRs can use information on patients' medical histories to improve quality significantly by reminding providers of the best methods of care for specific patients.