A new report finds that regardless of the current consensus on electronic medical records, the technology’s providers will need to make changes that increase the functionality and allow it to become more user friendly in the coming years.

With more and more hospitals, small medical facilities and private practices switching to electronic medical records, reports now suggest that a national system that allows for effortless information exchange between these parties could soon be a possibility.

While electronic medical records are seen by many as the key to integrating the healthcare system of the future, some doctors and small medical facilities have been hesitant to adopt the technology because they lack the same resources as larger institutions.

While doctors and small medical facilities have been able to use approved electronic medical records software for quite some time, those in long-term care facilities have needed to rely on consultation to choose the best product for their needs.

While electronic medical records have been proven to have many benefits when it comes to patient care, doctors and small medical facilities that choose to take advantage of the software need to ensure that they take sufficient precautions when it comes to certain threats.

By choosing to purchase their EMR hardware and software from the same company, small medical facilities may be able to better ensure that all of their updated components work together from day one onward.

Due in part to the story of a doctor named Lloyd Fisher and one of his child patients, Massachusetts legislators are looking to send money from new casino legislation into programs that would boost the usage of electronic medical records in the state.

The government's initiative to fund the healthcare industry's conversion to EMR software included an unheralded component that provides funding to states to establish platforms capable of sending and receiving information among healthcare providers.

According to the Department of Health of Human Services, the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program is intended to "enable patient-centric information flow"

The reasons for non-compliance range from providers not understanding the technology to being comfortable with paper records to fear of lawsuits resulting from leaked information.

As part of a plan to update and synchronize the electronic medical records used by more than 600 physicians in the San Diego area, Scripps Health has announced that it will be using Allscripts software to spearhead its transition to electronic medical record software.