A recent study reports that physicians whose offices have implemented electronic medical records (EMR) systems provide about the same quality of care to those physicians who still use paper-based systems.

Researchers examined 50,000 records from 2,500 physician offices and compared 17 guideline-based quality metrics, such as blood pressure check, smoking cessation and routine electrocardiogram. The EMR tracks these sorts of indicators, but the physician still must implement the care or intervention. 

A recent survey by the American Academy of Family Physicians reported that 37 percent of its members had fully implemented an EMR system, but 25 percent did not plan to purchase EMRs.

The American Medical Association release about the recent study on the AMA Web site. The study appears in the July 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.