Don't Repeat the UK's Electronic Health Records Failure

Fueled by the economic stimulus passed by Congress in 2008, the federal government has embarked on a controversial $30 billion program to induce doctors throughout the country to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) by 2014. The purpose is to create an interconnected system of electronic health records to improve safety and reduce medical costs.

But the United Kingdom has spent the last 6 years working on the same idea, and it's proven to be a colossal failure -- so much so that the government is drastically cutting its program. What happened to their plan? Should we be paying attention before rushing ahead with our own?

In 2005 the United Kingdom embarked on the largest investment ($18 billion) in health information technology in the world. Yet despite expectations that the system would increase efficiency and reduce medical errors, their efforts neither improved health nor saved money -- in fact in some cases, they may have led to patient harm.

Britain's government-run medical system is obviously different from our complex public-private insurance system. However, its electronic health record project bears an uncanny resemblance to the program President Obama is starting. Here are the mistakes the British committed that we are now repeating: