New Study Contradicts Notion That Electronic Health Records Are Driving Doctors to Quit

Presented by Office of Public Affairs and Communications

Prominent journalists including the late Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Krauthammer, have written that doctors are leaving the practice of medicine because adopting and using electronic health records (EHRs) is frustrating and debilitating.

Not so, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame, which shows that basic EHRs actually have increased doctors’ tenure at hospitals, whereas advanced EHRs caused doctors to shift to other hospitals. The study found no evidence of retirements as a result of implementation.

“The Mobility of High Status Professionals after the Implementation of Enterprise Information Systems,” forthcoming in Information Systems Research by Corey Angst, professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, examines how the implementation of basic and advanced EHRs influences the ability of organizations to retain highly trained professional workers.