EMR's Not Always Linked to Better Care in Hospitals
A Rand Corporation report released Dec. 25, 2010 indicates that the use of EMR's in a hospital does not guarantee better quality care. "One expected benefit of electronic health records is improved quality of care. But most of the current knowledge about the relationship between health information technology and quality comes from a few hospitals that may not be representative, such as large teaching hospitals or hospitals that were among the first to adopt electronic health records," says the Rand Report. It appears that the benefits of HIT remain illusive as we patiently await measures that better reflect the introduction of these technologies into hospital operations, not to mention those operations that are small and rural.