Electronic Health Records in Hospitals

To the Editor: In their study of the use of electronic health records, Jha et al. (April 16 issue) 1 report that only 1.5% of U.S. hospitals have comprehensive electronic-records systems, and 7.6% have a basic system that includes a capacity to store physicians' notes and nursing assessments in at least one clinical unit. Interestingly, doctors overwhelmingly say that electronic-records systems improve care, 2 a view that is borne out by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) experience. 3 Nevertheless, very few U.S. physicians use electronic health records. The reasons range from cost to the lack of a national standard. 2 The VHA already has . . .