Doctors' bad handwriting may be the source of up to 7,000 deaths in the
US each year. That's why President Obama's economic recovery package is
expected to contain around $20 billion for computerized medical expert notes.
FastCompany.com writes:
The IT-heavy hospitals were 9% less likely to lose a heart-attack patient and 55% less likely to lose a bypass patient than those hospitals who have only light use of health IT.
And the benefits of using digital medical records extend beyond patient deaths into having fewer patients with medical complications, and reduced operating costs. According to Dr. Neil Poe of Johns Hopkins, "If these results were to hold for all hospitals in the United States, computerizing notes and records might have the potential to save 100,000 lives annually."
