THE QUESTION I’ve had the same family doctor for 20 years and I like her. But my medical records are still on paper and my doctor has no plans to convert to an electronic system. That makes me wonder how up-to-date she is with other medical advances. What could be the holdup? THE ANSWER Changing to electronic medical records (EMR) is a daunting task for physicians who have been in practice for a long time. They have to go through their old paper files and decide what must be

You only have to look as far as your smartphone to appreciate how electronic information, and the ability to share it, has improved nearly every aspect of our modern lives. What used to take hours or days can now be done in seconds through a few taps on our phones—from communicating with friends and family to accessing real-time weather forecasts and traffic, to shopping online. Unfortunately, health care has not kept pace with this progress because many electronic health rec

On a bitingly cold evening in late December, having spent most of the day nursing a stomach ache, I decided I could no longer avoid medical advice. After a week of holiday overeating and end-of-year slothfulness, my body was clearly protesting. So I reluctantly sought the help I needed, and began to list my litany of ills. “My stomach is killing me,” I complained. The pain was a mild burning that came and went when I moved, and the area felt tender when pressed. I didn’t

The vast majority of patients say they want their medical info stored electronically in one location. Patients are dissatisfied with the way healthcare providers and insurers are dealing with their personal medical information and they want it stored electronically in a single location, according to the findings of a Surescripts survey. For the recently published report, Connected Care and the Patient Experience, researchers polled more than 1,000 American adults who revealed