Downside of Digital Medicine

There’s a lot of excitement over the rise of electronic health records — and with good reason. Digital record keeping could make it easier for doctors, hospitals and other providers to share patient information and coordinate care. And that, health policy wonks hope, will reduce medical billing costs. Providers will be less likely to order a duplicate test, for instance, if they know a doctor has already performed it. One recent study estimated that wide-scale adoption of electronic medical records could save $8.3 billion annually just by reducing use of medical imaging.

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