Electronic Health Records are harder to implement than you'd expect. HIPAA sets really harsh penalties for violations that can occur much more easily if hospita

Electronic Health Records are harder to implement than you'd expect. HIPAA sets really harsh penalties for violations that can occur much more easily if hospitals and doctors provide open access to other facilities. Organizations are also often reluctant to provide their data to other facilities because of a perception that it will lead to a loss of competitive advantage. Add to that the typical problems of cross-vendor interfacing between organizations. That said, EHRs are definitely the way to go, and we'll see much more of them in the future. Once Stage 2 of Meaningful Use[1] kicks in, you'll see a bunch of hospitals scrambling to upgrade their IT infrastructure to make sure they continue to receive the bonus Medicare/Medicaid payouts they're receiving now. 1. http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/meaningful-use-definition-objectives http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/meaningful-u...