Electronic health technologies: the gap between claims and evidence

A large review recently published in PLoS Medicine looked at multiple technologies including EMRs, CPOE and decision support technologies.


Among the conclusions:

We found that despite support from policymakers, there was relatively little empirical evidence to substantiate many of the claims made in relation to these technologies...

There is a large gap between the postulated and empirically demonstrated benefits of eHealth technologies. In addition, there is a lack of robust research on the risks of implementing these technologies and their cost-effectiveness has yet to be demonstrated, despite being frequently promoted by policymakers and “techno-enthusiasts” as if this was a given.