Although electronic health records (EHRs) are supposed to expose duplicate testing and thus reduce costs, new research has found that physicians with EHR access ordered more tests than their non-EHR counterparts.
The research, recently published in the American Journal of Managed Care, analyzed data on non–federally employed office-based physicians from the 2008 to 2012 Electronic Health Medical Records Survey, a supplement to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Researchers found that physicians who actively used an EHR system ordered more complete blood count (CBC) tests than physicians who did not, even after adjusting for patient demographics, health status, and case mix. EHR-using physicians also ordered more computerized tomography scans and x-rays.
