Regardless of the final guidelines, it is clear to see that information sharing and quality reporting will be essential components in care delivery as the march toward widespread implementation of electronic health records, encouraged by government financial incentives, moves ahead.
This column, "EHR Report," appears regularly in Family Practice News, a publication of Elsevier. Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia. He is also editor-in-chief of Redi-Reference Inc., a software company that creates medical handheld references. Dr. Notte is in private practice in Chalfont, Pa. They are partners in EHR Practice Consultants, helping practices move to EHR systems. Contact them at info@ehrpc.com. Dr. Skolnik and Dr. Notte had no conflicts of interest to declare.