(2007-11-06) Emr Use Increase Fragmented

EMR use is increasing, but generally in narrow ways. The CDC research, however, did not find any meaningful uptick in the use of comprehensive EMR systems. CDC defines such systems as those having computerized orders for prescriptions, computerized orders for tests, reporting of test results and clinical notes.

The original study notes that even among physicians who report using fully electronic medical record systems, only 63.7 percent reported using reminders for guideline-based interventions or screening tests and about one-half used computerized prescription order entry (52.9 percent) or computerized test order entry (46.5 percent) features within their EMR system. These are the features that may be most likely to result in improved management and quality of care. The detailed Table2 shows which specific features are used, but it's a little confusing to me because of the rolling up of features (e.g. it says 16.2% of all physicians use "Computerized orders for tests", but the only subhead if "Test orders sent electronically" which garners only 9.5% - what are the other 6.7% doing?). Most of the feature bundles seem similarly popular (10-20% usage).