U.S. agency pushes use of electronic health records

There has been much discussion regarding the adoption of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Havenstein reports the involvement of the government in encouraging citizens to embrace the adoption of EHRs by twirling "breakthrough projects" at the Health Information and Management Systems Society conference. In the past the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology has focused their efforts on encouraging physicians and hospitals to adopt the EHR. However, now the ONC is narrowing in on informing patients about the EHR in order to create a certain "demand" by the public. I think that ONC's efforts may work with patients that have a higher level of education, however I am concerned about those patients that are not aware of the uses of technology in healthcare environments. As in education, healthcare officials need to be constantly aware of the digital divide and look to reduce the division so all citizens have an opportunity to understand the advantages and disadvanatges of healthcare technology.