Adoption of electronic health records by medical specialty societies

Abstract

Rao et al ,1 by identifying barriers to adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by physicians in small practices, help target interventions. One intervention that merits consideration is the adoption of EHRs by medical specialty societies.2 A medical specialty society could select an existing web-based EHR and host it on the society's servers for the society's members who have not yet adopted an EHR. Physicians in small practices are concerned about financial barriers.1 Collectively, through their professional association, they would benefit from economies of scale. The American Psychiatric Association has, for example, 36 000 members,3 of which 30%, or 10 000, may be in small practices. Physicians in small practices are concerned about future obsolescence.1 With the market share delivered by the medical specialty society, the vendor would be able to stay in business and to continue to improve its EHR. Furthermore, the society, as …