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Hospitals still resist computerized patient records

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, April 7, 2004

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Numerous healthcare advocacy groups strongly urge hospitals and physicians to adopt electronic medical records and e-prescribing systems as a way to reduce medical errors, but only a fraction of facilities across the country make full use of such computerized systems, according to the April 6 New York Times.

One way electronic systems can improve patient safety is by eliminating confusion about handwritten prescriptions, which can lead to patients receiving the wrong drug or dose.

The high price tag is one reason why some organizations are reluctant to incorporate the systems. Some computerized patient care systems can cost several million dollars, according to Janet Corrigan, a healthcare financing and quality expert at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which published a report in 2001 that called for eliminating "most handwritten clinical data by the end of the decade."

Hospitals also fear that the technology will quickly become outdated or systems will be available at much lower costs in several years, according to the article.

Approximately 300 of the nation's 4,900 private hospitals-including 15 in the New York area-have these types of systems. But only 40 have fully met the standards of the Leapfrog Group, which was formed largely in response to the 1999 IOM report highlighting the number of preventable medical errors that occur annually.

For a hospital to win its approval, Leapfrog requires that 75% of doctors use an online system to order prescriptions and tests. Claire Turner, a Leapfrog spokeswoman, said in the article that 118 more hospitals will likely qualify this year, which would increase the total to just 3% of the nation's hospitals.

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