Most important, the electronic records system allows both committees and doctors to track patient outcomes.
"Within providers and within a hospital, the electronic records have made greater inroads.
And patients will need to be scrupulous about making sure the electronic records are up to date and accurate.
Linking the electronic records together, all 21,415 of them, gave the first clear picture of child health after the ban.
The electronic records that were destroyed appear to have numbered in the thousands, according to a government official who has been briefed on the matter.
"The electronic records archives system may be able to take in a tremendous amount of e-mail and other records," Mr. Brachfeld said.
Subsequently, Wood's story went on, Justice Department lawyers drew up an application to the FISA court seeking permission to "intercept the electronic records from two Russian banks".
The most important early measurement, officials say, will be to ensure that the electronic records are designed to avoid errors, embracing the physician's dictum, "First, do no harm".
Time-pressed doctors can fall back on the electronic records, which format and abbreviate information in a way that physicians can absorb quickly.
And in 15 of those states, parts or all of the state is using no paper trail whatsoever to back up the electronic records.
Those connections, only installed in the past year or two, now mean Boston Medical's doctors can see the electronic records of such patients.
