Canadian and US Primary Care Physicians Lag in use of Health IT

A new study published in Health Affairs compares the IT use of primary care physicians in 7 countries finding that US physicians have the lowest rates of EMR use, electronic drug interaction checking, preventative services reminders, and several other important markers.  I'm not surprised by these findings as the primary care health system in the US is dysfunctional right now with a premium placed on volume of patients, and little overhead to pay for IT enhancements.  On top of that, IT systems are frequently overpriced and poorly designed and conceived for the primary care setting.  A major emphasis should be placed on continuing to develop simple, effective systems that enhance primary care practice. 


Canadian and U.S. Primary Care Physicians Lag In Use Of Health IT

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New Tool from AHRQ to Determine Recommended Preventive Services

• Recommendation of preventive services by primary care physicians goes electronic. The HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on Oct. 26 unveiled its new Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) tool for primary clinicians to use with a personal digital assistant (PDA) or desktop computer. The interactive tool allows clinicians to access the latest recommendations from the AHRQ-sponsored U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The ePSS is designed for use at the point of care and contains 110 recommendations for specific populations covering 59 separate preventive services topics, AHRQ says. The agency adds that the real-time search function permits a clinician to input a patient's age, gender and selected behavioral risk factors — such as whether the patient is a smoker — in the appropriate fields. The software then cross-references the patient characteristics entered with the applicable AHRQ task force recommendations and generates a report specifically tailored for that patient. The report has information on screening tests ranging from mammograms to ultrasounds for detecting abdominal aortic aneurysms, as well as counseling topics and information on preventive medications. View and download the tool at www.ePSS.ahrq.gov.