Opinion: EHRs face human hurdles more than technological ones

Scientific American, April 18, 2011

In medicine, there's the patient and there's the chart. And the chart is paper. That's the stereotype. Actually, about 20% to 30% of all primary care physicians in the nation now use basic electronic health records, according to David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health information technology in the Obama Administration until a week ago. In fact, e-records are used almost universally in other industrialized countries, especially among primary care doctors, he added. Still, some U.S. doctors and practices are resistant to adopting such systems. The reasons for the resistance are psychological and cultural, not technological, Blumenthal said, and can occur up and down the rungs of the healthcare system.