The Trouble With EHRs

By Ken Congdon

As you probably deciphered from the cover, this issue of Health IT Outcomes focuses on EHR technology. The healthcare industry has had a love/hate relationship with EHRs for as long as I can remember. Key government and healthcare industry leaders dating back to the Bush administration have called for the adoption of EHR systems to usher in a universal patient record. In 2009, this plan was set in motion with the EHR Meaningful Use (MU) program that was included as part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The program is intended to spur EHR adoption by offering health providers monetary incentives for not only installing EHR software, but also meeting key use criteria.