Study Finds Lack of Impact of Electronic Health Records on Quality of Care and Outcomes for Ischemic Stroke

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology looked at whether hospitals with electronic health records (EHRs) differed on quality or outcome measures for ischemic stroke from those without EHRs.  EHRs may be key tools for improving the quality of health care, particularly for conditions for which guidelines are rapidly evolving and timely care is critical, such as ischemic stroke. Findings from the study of their sample GWTG-Stroke hospitals indicated that EHRs were not associated with higher-quality care or better clinical outcomes for stroke care. Although EHRs may be necessary for an increasingly high-tech, transparent healthcare system, as currently implemented, they do not appear to be sufficient to improve outcomes for this important disease.

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