A study released by the New England Journal of Medicine into the use of electronic health records (EHR) found that:

In all, about 9 percent of hospitals have EHRs, according to a survey published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Only 1.5 percent of U.S. hospitals have adopted “comprehensive” EHRs — those with a complete set of bells and whistles, installed throughout the hospital. Another 7.6 percent have basic systems installed in at least part of the hospital.

For both docs and hospitals, the main barrier to adoption was the same: Cost. That augurs well for the great big pile of cash the feds will be handing out in a few years to encourage everybody to get with the EHR program.

The federal money should be worth about $6 million over several years for a midsized hospital, according to an expert cited by the WSJ. That will cover a decent chunk of the cost of getting an electronic records system, which runs about $10 million, the WSJ says. But the stimulus incentives should