Clinics Slow To Adopt Paperless Medical Records

President Obama believes one of the most effective ways to reduce health care costs is to go paperless. Children’s Mercy Hospital is one of a growing number of hospitals relying on electronic records, but recent studies found only nine percent of US hospitals and about 25 percent of doctor offices have gone to electronic records.

Everyone agrees that’s the trend but not everyone agrees it’ll save money and improve patient care.

Kansas City’s Internal Medicine Clinic moved to electronic medical records four years ago.

“We have everything, if we want to look at a lab, we push a button,” Dr. Marianne Hudgins said.

The administrative staff has shrunk by 5 and the clinic is adding a new doctor, but it’s patient quality that really impresses Dr. Hudgins.

“I think one of the beauties of this is that if it’s 2:00 in the morning and I get that call, I jump on my computer and I know everything about that patient,” Dr. Hudgins said.

Another obvious advantage of going paperless is more space, that become exam rooms.

“There are some benefits to the old paper way of doing it such as you can go through a 200 page chart in a matter of a minute,” Dr. Scott Kuennen with the Clay Platte Family Medicine Clinic said.

Dr. Kuennen’s clinic has plans to go electronic, but not until it absolutely has too.

“You’ll save money, in the sense that you’ll have less staff, you’ll be more efficient, not the case with anybody I’ve ever talked to,” Dr. Kuennen said.

He said the upfront costs are huge and adds too often doctors and hospitals aren’t on the same computer system until they are, he prefers paper.

The Obama administration is offering stimulus money to partially reimburse doctors who go electronic. One of the biggest benefactors could be Kansas City-based Cerner.

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-paperless-records,0,7058639.story