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Pediatricians call for commitment to EMRs

AAP. Pediatrics; 2011:127:978-982.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has formally backed universal implementation of electronic medical records for pediatric patients and called for federal health officials to provide funding for electronic medical record conversions.

The AAP said adopting electronic medical records (EMRs) would enable young patients to keep track of their immunizations and illnesses during the course of their lives, as well as enabling physicians to “translate evidence into actionable clinical decision support, and reuse archived clinical data for continuous quality improvement.”

AAP officials said EMRs in medical homes are a particularly important organizing tool for managing the health care of children because they help to centralize information, which is important for pediatric patients, who tend to move around, and others who often require different specialists for care.

“Real-time availability of patient information from the medical home to other entities requires the establishment of secure and compliant health care information communications networks,” the AAP said in its statement.

AAP officials said there are a few hurdles that must be overcome, including the establishment of universal system that will allow easy sharing of records, as well as confidentiality questions. Financial uncertainty, information security and resistance from practitioners are other hurdles that will also have to be overcome in the future.

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

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