Study: US providers lag in evening care, IT use

A new study comparing care trends in seven countries suggests that U.S. providers are behind on several measures of business and clinical efficiency, including technology adoption, after-hours availability and chronic disease management. To learn more about international differences in provider practices, the Commonwealth Fund surveyed 6,000 primary care physicians across Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Researchers found that while virtually all PCPs in the Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.K. have and use electronic medical records [1], just 28 percent of U.S. physicians routinely use EMRs. Also, while the vast majority of U.K. and Netherlander physicians offer after-hours care, only 40 percent of U.S. physicians do so, opening them up to poorer patient outcomes. Researchers noted that more uniform government-run health systems like that in the U.K. have a significant advantage in implementing changes over the providers in the fragmented U.S. system.

For more about this research:
- read this United Press International article [2]
- read a Commonwealth Fund summary [3] of the research

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