A lot of factors have been blamed for the non implementation of electronic medical records or EMRs by most medical practitioners. The EMR, which is simply a medical record in digital format, can overhaul healthcare worldwide but implementation is still questionable.

In fact, less than 10% of hospitals and only about 16% of primary care physicians in the United States have made use of the technology. This means majority of healthcare transactions are still on paper which has been a practice since the 1950s. Industry experts cite transition difficulties, time factor and expense as the major reasons for the industry’s failure to adopt the EMR.

There is also the issue of confidentiality and privacy of EMRs which may conflict with the legal provision on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA. A lot of people can have access to EMRs and this can give rise to security issues. While there are success stories thanks to organizations like he Veterans Administration hospital system and the Vista EMR, there are however remarkable failures in the EMR implementation including the Los Angeles Cedars Sinai Medical Center.