1. Identify and describe the problem in this case.
2. What management, organization, and technology factors are responsible for the difficulties in building electronic medical record systems? Explain your answer.
3. What is the business, political, and social impact of not digitizing medical records (for individual physicans, hospitals, insurers, patients, and the U. S. government)?
4. What are the business and social benefits of digitizing medical recordkeeping?
5. Are electronic medical record systems a good solution to the problem of rising health care costs in the United States? Explain your answer.

During a typical trip to the doctor, you’ll often see shelves full of folders and papers devoted to the storage of medical records. Every time you visit, your records are created or modified, and often duplicate copies are generated throughout the course of a visit to the doctor or a hospital. The majority of medical records are currently paper- based, making these records very difficult to access and share. It has been said that the U. S. health care industry is the world’s most inefficient information enterprise. Inefficiencies in medical record keeping are one reason why health care costs in the United States are the highest in the world. In 2012, health care costs reached $ 2.8 trillion, representing 18 percent of the U. S. gross domestic product ( GDP). Left unchecked, by 2037, health care costs will rise to 25 percent of GDP and consume approximately 40 percent of total federal spending. Since administrative costs and medical recordkeeping account for nearly 13 percent of U.S health care spending, improving medical recordkeeping systems has been targeted as a major path to cost savings and even higher quality health care. Enter electronic medical record (EMR) systems.