Only about 1 out of 4 physicians saw a positive financial return five years after converting to electronic health records (EHR), according to a Health Affairs study.
Researchers looked at 49 Massachusetts community practices in the state’s eHealth Collaborative, which was an EHR pilot study. They found that the average physician lost $43,743 over a five-year period. They said practices that did not lose money used the new technology to increase revenue by expanding patient panels or improving the billing process.
