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News: Professional liability, insurance, doctors, electronic health records and lower malpractice settlements Use of electronic health records may help reduce paid malpractice settlements for physicians. There is broad consensus that electronic health records are an essential foundation for the delivery of high quality care. As electronic health record adoption proceeds as a national health policy objective, some have wondered whether they can help to prevent medical malpractice claims Read more |
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Use of electronic health records may help reduce paid malpractice settlements for physicians. |
November 2008
Electronic health records (EHRs) may improve patient safety and health care quality, but little was known till now about the relationship between EHR adoption and settled malpractice claims.
We now have valuable new information about this important issue relevant to professional liability, insurance and doctors coming to us from the Harvard Medical School.
According to a research involving practicing physicians from Massachusetts, it is probable that physicians with EHRs appear less likely to have paid malpractice claims.
This of course are encouraging news for the doctors, the insurance industry, the governments and of course for the patients. Although confirmatory studies are needed before these findings are translated into policy implications, the benefits of EHRs are definitely highlighted.
You will find more information on this interesting issue in the article Professional liability, insurance, doctors, electronic health records and lower malpractice settlements that you will find attached with our 70th Progressive Newsletter.
The electronic medical record offers many advantages for the health system and for the patients. Health care data are preserved and documented better and access to them is facilitated. In the increasingly complex universe of Medicine today, communication, exchange and sharing of data and experiences is more crucial than ever. EHRs fulfill a new unprecedented role and the implications should become more and more evident.
The economy aspects of EHR and their emerging impact on legal and insurance repercussions should stimulate more research to help us understand how to better use the new tools that technology offers us.
In these extremely difficult financial times, technology and especially digital data and communication tools are welcome as they are economically potent ways that can make our lives better.
Takis A. Haggiandreou
Director
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Preventing medical malpractice claims may be another compelling reason for physicians, practices, and policy makers to forge ahead with efforts toward universal adoption and optimal usage of electronic health records. |
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