Health Affairs reports, "Despite the widely held assumption that having computer access to patients' test results will reduce testing, a new study shows that doctors who have such access to tests in the ambulatory care setting are more likely to order imaging and lab tests. Researchers writing in the March issue of the journal Health Affairs say their findings challenge one premise of the nation's multibillion-dollar effort to promote widespread adoption of health information technology (HIT). They warn that the effort 'may not yield anticipated cost savings from reductions in duplicative or inappropriate diagnostic testing' and, in fact, could drive costs up."
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/3/488.abstract
