Blumenthal: EHRs will become 'an absolute requisite' for docs

WASHINGTON – It may seem unlikely today, but within the next 10 years there will be widespread use of electronic health records across the country, the nation's health IT chief predicted Thursday.

David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology spoke at the 18th National HIPAA Summit in Washington DC, where other federal officials and stakeholders said the adoption of healthcare IT is urgent.

"History has shown that things that improve healthcare become part of what is used," Blumenthal said. "I propose to you that in a few years doctors will all support EHRs," he said. "Using EHRs will become a core competency for physicians. And once we've established that, it will be considered an absolute requisite."

Blumenthal compared the kick-off of federal incentives for meaningful use of electronic health records in 2011 to boarding an escalator. "I think we're going to see the upward slope of the adoption curve within a year or two; but it will be difficult to predict the slope," he said.

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