Are Electronic Medical Records Helpful for Care Coordination? Experiences of Physician Practices

Dec. 22, 2009
Journal of General Internal Medicine Ann S. O'Malley, Joy M. Grossman, Genna R. Cohen, Nicole M. Kemper, Hoangmai H. Pham

There is a gap between policy-makers’ expectation of, and clinical practitioners’ experience with, current electronic medical records’ ability to support coordination of care. Policymakers could expand current health information technology policies to support assessment of how well the technology facilitates tasks necessary for coordination. By reforming payment policy to include care coordination, policymakers could encourage the evolution of EMR technology to include capabilities that support coordination, for example, allowing for inter-practice data exchange and multi-provider clinical decision support.

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