Growing Pains as Doctors' Offices Adopt Electronic Records

Information technology has transformed much of the American economy, but its use in health care still lags, especially when it comes to electronic medical records.  Here's an example: The state of Colorado runs a computerized registry where any provider who gives a child a vaccine can report that information. The system should help kids stay current with their immunizations.

But the state's computer system isn't compatible with most of the ones doctors use, so many practices don't update the central database because it's just too much extra data entry, says Dr. Allison Kempe, director of the Children's Outcomes Research Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. That means doctors and researchers like her, who try to keep kids' immunizations on track, can't rely on it to make sure a vaccine isn't missed or given twice.

We're talking thousands of data fields around things that are life and death," says Farzad Mostashari, the national coordinator for health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services. His office is charged with leading American medicine's digital transformation.  Patients would get better care, at lower cost, if health care systems could share patient records easily. But that won't happen until doctors and hospitals start getting paid for being smart about IT. 

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