The business case for implementing electronic health records in primary care settings in the United States

Abstract

With escalating health-care costs in the United States, it is easy to understand why health-care service providers operations such as hospitals, primary care physician practices are heavily focused on controlling cost of services to consumers. But there is another very important component to the health-care service providers profit equation – revenue. There are many things a health-care service provider can do to influence revenue, and one of the most important is implementation of Electronic Health Records. Electronic health record (EHR) systems hold substantial promise for improving the quality of health care in the United States while decreasing costs. Despite such promise, adoption rates for these systems in the United States remain quite low, particularly among primary care physicians, with funding often cited as the most significant barrier to their adoption. This study analyses the costs and benefits of EHR systems and presents a cost-benefit model for making the business case for their implementation in primary care settings in the United States for increased revenues and quality services.