Most health care records now are electronic

An ever-expanding amount of the nation's medical records — millions of prescriptions, medical reports and appointment reminders — are now computerized and part of an ambitious electronic medical records program, the Obama administration reports.

Since the start of a 2011 program in which the government helps finance new health records systems, doctors or their assistants have filled more than 190 million prescriptions electronically, according to data provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

...More than half of the nation's health care providers and more than 80% of hospitals now have electronic records.

...The goals of electronic medical records include better and faster exchanges of information between doctors who share a patient, reducing duplication of tests and procedures, eliminating errors on prescriptions, and providing patients with quicker access to their own records.