TY  - JOUR
T1  - Electronic health records and clinical decision support systems: Impact on national ambulatory care quality
AU  - Romano MJ, Stafford RS
Y1  - 2011/05/23
N1  - 10.1001/archinternmed.2010.527
JO  - Archives of Internal Medicine
SP  - 897
EP  - 903
VL  - 171
IS  - 10
N2  - 
American physicians often fail to provide outpatient care that is recommended by clinical guidelines,1- 2 and many stakeholders identify health information technology (HIT) as a potential solution to low-quality care.3 Since 1991, the Institute of Medicine has repeatedly called for increasing electronic health record (EHR) use to improve health care quality.3- 4 Clinical practices implementing outpatient EHRs self-report improved clinical decisions and resulted in easier communication with other providers and patients, faster and more accurate access to medical records, and avoidance of medication errors. While US physicians have been slow to adopt outpatient EHRs,5- 6 their use is likely to accelerate because of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.7- 8 Nonetheless, evidence linking increased national use of outpatient EHRs to improved care quality is lacking. While past studies within specific institutions have demonstrated better quality as a result of EHR implementation,9- 10 using 2004 national data Linder et al11 found no quality difference between ambulatory care provided with and without EHRs. Several recent studies have also failed to observe an association between EHR use and improved quality of care.12- 13

SN  - 0003-9926
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2010.527
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2010.527
ER  -