Last winter, we reviewed a study by Hardeep Singh and colleagues which revealed that office-based physicians affiliated with the DeBakey VA in Houston failed to act on 8% of the clinically significant abnormal lab test results they received. More than 25% of these results triggered...

Secure, web-based patient–provider communication tools are dedicated systems designed to support patient–provider and provider–provider electronic communication. They require unique log-in procedures and user identifiers to secure the privacy of such communications, and are often augmented by additional features like appointment scheduling, medication refill processing, viewable...

Why can’t I just take my Electronic Health Record (EHR) charts and move them from one system to another one? This seemingly-simple question has vexed builders of a national Health IT infrastructure, and leaves us with the dissatisfying answer of “it’s not that easy.”

Providers have for years been challenged to increase productivity and throughput, even as their case-mix increases. Patients are frustrated by the results of these trends, which include diminished quality and effectiveness of their encounters with physicians. All too often, patients forget to share important information...

The use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) has been quite variable from one specialty to another. Some specialties, like primary care specialties, seem more open to adopting EHRs, while others have had a different adoption experience. Even when adoption barriers – cost, implementation and workflow-disruption...