Electronic health records and the national health information network: Affordable, adoptable, and ready for prime time?

In this issue, Baron and colleagues detail the costs and difficulties of implementing an electronic health record (EHR) system, and Kaushal and colleagues estimate the costs of building a national health information network (NHIN). Many questions surround these innovations. Will meaningful health care transformation follow? Are EHRs and the NHIN interdependent? Is the EHR affordable for small practices? Can the United States afford the NHIN? How can we make EHR implementation and secure connectivity easier and less costly? © 2005 American College of Physicians.