More physician leaders are embracing technological advances, such as electronic medical records. 

Those are the results found in a recent survey by the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE). The findings were published in the March/April issue of the Physician Executive Journal, ACPE's journal of medical management. 

ACPE conducted the same survey back in 2004. Five years later, there were some surprising findings: 

• More than 64 percent of respondents said they used electronic medical records, up from 33 percent in 2004.
• About 44 percent said their organization uses computerized order entry, while only about 33 percent used CPOE five years ago.
• More than 38 percent said they used pharmaceutical bar coding, up from 20 percent in 2004.

What Is Your Primary Reason for Using or Planning To Use Health Care IT? 

Thirty-three percent of physicians said reduced liability and medical errors were the primary reasons for using or planning to use health care IT, according to the survey. 

Twenty-eight percent of physicians said accurate record-keeping was the primary reason for using or planning to use health IT, while 21% cited efforts to stay current. About 4% of respondents said the primary reason for using or planning to use health IT was the high return on investment. 

Approximately 1,000 ACPE members responded to the 2009 survey.

 ACPE is the nation's oldest and largest medical management educational association for physicians. It has approximately 10,000 members. To receive a copy of the complete survey results, please email Carrie Weimar at cweimar@acpe.org.