Study: More Health Care Facilities Using Electronic Medical Records

By Suzanne Monaghan

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A new study shows a dramatic increase in the number of health care facilities using electronic medical records. The 2012 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey finds two-thirds of primary care doctors in the U.S. are keeping records electronically. That's up from less than half in 2009.

Electronic record keeping is designed to allow for better transmission and sharing of health data among physicians.

Doctor Eli Lourie is the Medical Director of Outpatient Information Services with Crozer Keystone Health Network.  He says one concern patients have is privacy.

"The banks have done an excellent job of keeping information secure and we in the health care informatics industry, we have done what we believe to be just as good a job at making sure that the health information is completely secure."

Lourie says he would like to eventually see complete record sharing from one physician to another regardless of hospital system.

"The more information that physicians have about their patients, the better care they will give and the healthier the patients will be."