A new survey from the California HealthCare Foundation shows doctors in the state lead the nation in adopting electronic health records. Even so, the report says nearly two out of three California physicians still use old-fashioned paper records. KPBS Reporter Kenny Goldberg has the story.
The study says the larger the medical group in California, the more likely its doctors use electronic medical records. For example, 79 percent of Kaiser physicians use them. But only about 13 percent of doctors in solo practices do. Jonah Frohlich is with the California HealthCare Foundation. He says doctors complain the cost is prohibitive.
Frohlich: And there's a serious and significant resistance to actually change how they practice. Electronic medical records require that physicians change how they manage their patients' care on a day-to-day basis.
That means entering everything into a computer, instead of keeping paper files. Frolich says most doctors still write out prescriptions by hand. He says that puts patients at greater risk of medication errors.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
