I have a story on KALW's Crosscurrents today about how Bay Area doctors and hospitals are (or are not) taking advantage of the federal dollars available to adopt electronic health records. It was interesting to compare the thoughts of folks at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, a wealthy, cash-flush provider and the City of San Francisco, which runs the city's cash-strapped clinics and hospitals.
PAMF adopted electronic health records more than 10 years ago, while San Francisco is only able to thanks to funds available through the stimulus bill. Still, both entities see great benefits to using health information technology, though they have experienced and expect to continue to experience transitionary struggles.
