A study by Weil Cornell Medical College researchers found that using Electronic Health Records systems results in significantly higher care quality scores than using paper records for certain health conditions. The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, analyzed care quality data regarding over 74,000 patients from 262 physicians using paper records and 204 physicians using EHRs in 2008.
According to the study, 90% of the EHR-using physicians performed appropriate hemoglobin A1c testing for diabetes patients, while 84% of the physicians using paper charts did. Additionally, almost 79% of the physicians using EHRs met care quality measures for breast cancer screening as opposed to 74.2% of the paper-using physicians, and chlamydia screening and colorectal screening also showed higher care quality scores for those physicians using EHR systems. An overall higher quality of care was shown by a composite score of all the study’s measures to be associated with the use of EHRs.
EHR systems like Medisoft Clinical, McKesson Practice Choice, and Allscripts MyWay can help a practice improve both its efficiency and its quality of patient care. Please contact a healthcare technology consultant at Microwize Technology for more information.