Stimulus spurs health IT adoption, but rush may hurt programs' quality

Within the next two years, 58 percent of small physician practices surveyed by Accenture and Harris Interactive will have begun using electronic medical records, Computerworld/BusinessWeek reports. Only 15 percent of those doctors' practices are now using the technology, and the shift is likely driven by federal subsidies to help physicians buy the technology, as well as future penalties for those who do not. Both the subsidies and penalties are a result of last year's economic stimulus package (Mearian, 3/2).  

Computerworld/BusinessWeek, in a separate story: "Hospitals and physicians in the U.S. have until 2015 to deploy comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) and the accompanying technology to meet federal guidelines and qualify for billions of dollars in reimbursements. But some health care experts are concerned that the quality of e-health systems might be at risk because of unrealistic deadlines and confusion about what to do first" (Mearian, 3/2).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.