Someday, doctors will have our data at their fingertips and will use it to prevent drug reactions, nip diabetes and cancers in the bud and lengthen our lives while preventing unpleasant and costly hospital stays. But for most doctors, that free-flowing information highway is a beautiful dream that doesn't pay the bills. Many hospitals don't have any incentive to improve the clunky $30 billion federal electronic health records program: They still make most of their money by filling beds. Most doctors still get paid through procedures and visits. So a new 10-year plan for fixing the system from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT may have a hard time getting off the ground.
