The dubious promise of digital medicine

In Washington, where partisan bickering over how to revive the economy flares on several fronts, sweet consensus reigns on health-tech spending. Congressional Republicans sound just as enthusiastic as the White House. Encouraged by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, now an influential industry consultant, lawmakers cheer electronic records as a business-based remedy for much that ails medical care. That rare agreement, however, is obscuring the checkered history of computerized medical files and drowning out legitimate questions about their effectiveness.

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