The federal government might be the party in the best position to get modern information technology into doctors’ offices.
Analysts at the Congressional Budget Office, write about that possibility in a review of evidence on the costs and benefits of health information technology.
Many believe that the U.S. health system would be more efficient of doctors and other providers depended more on electronic health records and less on paper charts, the analysts write in the paper.
But few physicians have the technical skills or enthusiasm to set up the systems today, converting paper medical offices to EHR systems is time-consuming and expensive, and doctors might have a difficult time making the systems pay for themselves in a reasonable period of time, the analysts write.