Maryland first for electronic medical record pilot

Maryland doctors got the first crack at a federal pilot program that reimburses physicians for ditching paper for electronic medical records.

“While the number of electronic health records around the country has proliferated, there?s been a reluctance among small- to medium-sized practices to embrace them. They were reluctant to take on the cost,” Mike Leavitt, U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, told a group of physicians Tuesday at Anne Arundel Medical Center.