Risks, barriers, and benefits of EHR systems: a comparative study based on size of hospital.

With the government backing the concept of electronic health records (EHR), and with technology being used in every walk of life, more and more hospitals are looking into implementing EHR systems. A national survey of U.S. hospitals was conducted in February/March 2005 to identify the status of EHR systems in hospitals regarding the core functionalities implemented (as identified by the Institute of Medicine), and to determine the perceived benefits, risks, and barriers to adoption of EHR systems in relation to the size of the hospital. The results showed that 37 percent of the hospitals that participated had some components in all of the core functionalities of an EHR system, while 27 percent were using at least some of the core functionalities. There was a significant relationship in some of the perceived benefits and barriers to adoption of EHR systems based on the size of the hospital. With regard to perceived benefits, a large correlation was found between the "medical staff's work efficiency and time management" and size of the hospital. As to perceived barriers to adoption, the cost of hardware and the size of the hospital were interwoven.