Nationwide EHR estimated to cost $150 billion

According to Robert Miller, a professor of health economics at the University of California, San Francisco, full implementation of networked electronic health records would cost $150 billion over eight years (Source: “Nationwide EHR implementation price tag estimated at $150 billion,” Government Health IT, July 31, 2008).

Speaking at an Institute of Medicine workshop last week, Miller said his estimate would mean a less than 1 percent increase in the total amount spent on health-care annually in the United States. Furthermore, he said the cost could be less than $100 million because of offsetting increases in medical revenues  and other factors.