New York hospital system invests in digital patient records

The New York Times reports: "The nation's drive toward computerized medical records is getting a push from big hospitals, which hope not only to improve patient care but to gain an edge on competitors. And an effort to be announced on Monday by a big New York regional hospital group may be the most ambitious effort of this type yet — a sizable investment intended as a linchpin in the group's $400 million commitment to digitize patient records throughout its system, including 13 hospitals."

"North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System plans to offer its 7,000 affiliated doctors subsidies of up to $40,000 each over five years to adopt digital patient records." This incentive would "be in addition to federal support for computerizing patient records, which can total $44,000 per doctor over five years. The federal program includes $19 billion in incentive payments to computerize patient records, as a way to improve care and curb costs. And the government initiative has been getting reinforcement from hospitals. Many are reaching out to their affiliated physicians ... offering technical help and some financial assistance to move from paper to electronic health records" (Lohr, 9/27).

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