Study: EHRs and CDS don't improve care

A new study by a Stanford University Research team, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, has found that current usage of electronic health records and clinical decision support technology may improve administrative efficiency but does "not appear to translate into better outpatient quality of care."

The three-year study, titled Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support Systems: Impact on National Ambulatory Care Quality, was coauthored by Randall S. Stafford, MD, PhD, and Max J. Romano, who examined data from more than 250,000 ambulatory visits between 2005 and 2007. EHRs were in use for roughly 30 percent of those visits, with clinical decision support used for about 17 percent of them. The pair's findings could be seen as a splash of cold water for the healthcare IT industry – and the federal government intent on spurring widespread EHR adoption with billions in financial incentives.