Doctors Go Digital

For more than a decade, federal health officials have tried to persuade doctors and hospitals to abandon paper and switch to electronic health records, but it's been a tough sell. The cost of equipment and training, the hassle of digitizing paper records, and uncertainty about how well information technology systems actually will work have stymied progress. But financial incentives for doctors who take the electronic records plunge could be turning the tide. Two recent surveys indicate that 41 percent of doctors and 95 percent of hospitals are ready to give electronic records a try. The reason: $27 billion in payments is available for those who make the switch. The payments to doctors, which could be as much as $63,750, are part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "Never before have there been incentives like this," says Melinda Buntin, chief economist for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. She warns health care providers, "This is a one-time opportunity--we're not going to have another stimulus bill. If you want to bring your practice into the 21st century, now is the time to act." Indeed, the law calls for financial penalties for those who fail to do so.