Jim Morrow, vice president of North Fulton Family Medicine PC in its Cumming, Ga., office, said his practice began using EMR software in 1998 to eliminate annual data transcription costs of $110,000.

Since that successful start, the practice has realized additional savings by reducing the average number of workers needed to manage patient charts from just over four to just under three, he said. North Fulton also can now use the system to ensure that patients are receiving preventive care such as vaccines.

Morrow acknowledged that the costs -- as much as $25,000 per physician -- can be difficult to absorb. But he said doctors should move ahead with automating paper-based records on their own, or they could face government mandates in the future.

Mark McClellan, administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said that many health care providers presume that "health IT doesn't pay off, especially if they operate on thin margins." At the same time, most health care executives do believe that EMR systems can improve the quality of health care, he said.

Some health care providers fear that undertaking IT projects that promise significant value could lead to financial woes, McClellan said. "In health care, you often get paid less when you provide a higher level of care at a lower cost," he said, because providing better health care generally means fewer visits to the doctor, fewer tests and less medication.