Speaking to a crowd at the Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City, Mo., Sec. Sebelius noted that only 10 percent of hospitals and 20 percent of physicians’ offices have implemented fully digital systems. The national goal is to have all healthcare providers using digital medical records by 2013, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $35 billion in incentives for physicians and hospitals that adopt these programs, according to the report.
The report emphasized the importance of electronic medical records in helping to track patients’ progress, reducing hospital readmissions and providing better models to track diseases.
Read the Star’s report on the lack of national electronic medical records.
