title: Electronic health records: a primer for practicing physicians.
abstract: Electronic health records (EHRs) offer a number of advantages over the old paper record. They have the potential to improve the quality of patient care, reduce the cost of health care, and expedite the transfer of information. Yet fewer than 20% of hospitals and physician practices now use them. We discuss the advantages of EHRs, reasons for adopting this system, current barriers to the adoption of EHRs, and issues to consider when choosing a system.
authors.affiliation: Medical Informatics Fellowship Program, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, USA. mehtan@ccf.org
authors.forename: Neil B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Mary H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Partin
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*