The study showed a trend toward lower paid malpractice claims for physicians who are active users of EHR technology. However, the study provided limited evidence that physicians could make fewer mistakes on the job by abandoning paper-based medicine in favor of electronic health records.
Although the findings are not definitive they “suggest that electronic health records may prevent medical errors and malpractice claims,” said study co-author Steven Simon, MD, an internist and health researcher at
According to Simon, an estimated 5 percent of physicians use the most advanced types of electronic medical record technology, while about 20 percent have some kind of electronic record system in place.
Doctors are hesitant, Simon said, because of the cost of converting to new technology and the perception that health insurers gain most of the financial benefit once the systems are in place.
Even so, he said, “there’s a lot of consensus that it’s actually the right thing to do and essential for our system to perform in an effective way.”
Study Results
Simon and colleagues sought to measure whether electronic health records might reduce medical errors that lead to malpractice suits. In 2005, they randomly surveyed 1,884 doctors in
The researchers focused on 1,140 survey respondents who had malpractice histories that a state database tracked. A third of those used electronic records.