Most of the rewards go to the insurance companies instead of benefiting the physician.

This piece by David Hamilton doesn’t break any new ground, and I cited a statistic earlier this year that doctors only realize about 11 percent of each dollar saved with EMRs.

Nonetheless, it’s a good overview of the obstacles facing every doctor who’s on the fence about going electronic. Office costs in the majority of cases approximate $50,000 per doctor, and “do not include the lost productivity in the first year, when the staff was learning to use the new technology.”

Because of the high cost combined with less-than-tangible benefit, the transition to digital records remains “a high-risk venture,” which physicians pursue at their “own financial peril.”