States with laws to protect patients’ confidentiality may be discouraging hospitals from adopting electronic medical record (EMR) systems by up to 30 percent and may hinder the federal government’s aim for interoperability, according to researchers at two universities.
The stimulus bill, enacted Feb. 17, allocates nearly $20 billion in funding for facilities and providers to adopt standardized EMR systems. Only 1.5 percent of hospitals have a comprehensive system while 8 percent have a basic system that includes provider notes, according to the March 25 New England Journal of Medicine.
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May 14th, 2009