Physicians Who Personally Perform EHR Documentation May Deliver Better Care

Physicians with documentation styles that result in more intensive interactions with electronic health records (EHRs) may deliver higher-quality care, according to the results of a study published online May 19, 2012, in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. The nine-month study, which included 7,000 coronary artery disease and diabetes patients, assessed the effects of three physician documentation styles on 15 EHR-based coronary artery disease and diabetes quality measures. The three types of documentation styles studied were dictation, use of structured documentation, and use of free-text notes.