RCHC Community Project Abstracts

Rural Medicine in the Digital Era
Date of project: 8/3/2009

Electronic medical records have been heralded as a cornerstone in the effort to eliminate waste and mistakes in medicine. Yet even today only a quarter of practitioners use EMR. The rates may be even lower in rural areas where practices are generally smaller and run on tighter budgets. This study will help to understand the key barriers to EMR adoption among rural primary care practitioners. Data was collected through formal and informal interviews with providers in Klamath Falls, OR. Through these conversations it became clear that while all of the providers were considering EMR, there were three types of barriers to adoption including financial, investigational and personal barriers. Given these barriers a low cost subscription EMR designed specifically for primary care practitioners would likely be the most beneficial design to encourage adoption of EMR among rural PCPs.

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