Doctors Abroad Report Mixed Results for Health IT

Health IT fails to consistently provide primary care physicians with timely information about patients or information on physician performance, a recent survey of doctors in 10 industrialized nations found. Even so, physicians say they’re seeing more progress in health IT than in some other health care areas, according to the survey, which was published online in the November issue of Health Affairs journal.

U.S. doctors in particular said the health care system needs “fundamental change,” with a majority reporting they spend a great deal of time dealing with insurance hassles that force some patients to go without care. Researchers surveyed primary care physicians in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States earlier this year for the report, which follows a similar survey conducted in 2009. The survey found near-universal use of electronic medical records in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the U.K. Two-thirds or more of physicians in the U.S., France and Germany report using electronic records, with significant growth reported in the U.S. and Canada in the last three years.