Computerization of primary care in the United States

James G. Anderson, E. Andrew Balas

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the current level of information technology use by primary care physicians in the U.S. Primary care physicians listed by the American Medical Association were contacted by e-mail and asked to complete a Web-based questionnaire. A total of 2,145 physicians responded. Overall, between 20% and 25% of primary care physicians reported using electronic medical records, e-prescribing, pointof- care decision support tools, and electronic communication with patients. This indicates a slow rate of adoption since 2000. Differences in adoption rates suggest that future surveys need to differentiate primary care and office-based physicians by specialty. An important finding is that one-third of the physicians surveyed expressed no interest in the four IT applications. Overcoming this barrier may require efforts by medical specialty societies to educate their members in the benefits of IT in practice. The majority of physicians perceived benefits of IT, but they cited costs, vendor inability to deliver acceptable products, and concerns about privacy and confidentiality as major barriers to implementation of IT applications. Overcoming the cost barrier may require that payers and the federal government share the costs of implementing these IT applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMedical Informatics
Subtitle of host publicationConcepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications
PublisherIGI Global
Pages1301-1321
Number of pages21
Volume3-4
ISBN (Electronic)9781605660516
ISBN (Print)1605660507, 9781605660509
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 30 2008
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Social Sciences
  • General Engineering

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