TRENTON, N.J., Sept 29, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Stephanie "Stevie" Davidson, president and CEO of Health Informatics Consulting, www.hi-consulting.net has been appointed by New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine to serve on the state Health Information Technology Commission, a new body created to jump-start the much-needed conversion to computerized patient records by doctors.

Davidson is a national expert in the emerging field of health information technology and her Montgomery, New Jersey, firm has helped numerous doctors, hospitals and health systems make the switch from paper to electronic health records -- individual patient medical records maintained in digital form.

Still, widespread adoption of electronic health records continues to lag as low-tech, paper-based files remain the norm in countless physicians' offices nationwide. A report published this summer in The New England Journal of Medicine found only one in five of the nation's doctors using electronic health records.

"It's an urgent and even a dangerous problem," said Davidson, "when a field as vital as healthcare is yet to implement the kind of information technology that most of us take for granted."

"The same doctor who uploads his or her child's soccer schedule into a Blackberry still has to break out a pencil and paper to note a patient's vital signs or to prescribe medication," said Davidson. "Physicians strive to offer state-of-the-art care, but in terms of information technology, the healthcare industry is still far behind."

Davidson said the broad use of electronic health records will reduce medical errors, speed up diagnosis and treatment, and help contain healthcare costs.

"The electronic health record is vital for improving the nation's healthcare system and the quality of care for each and every patient. It will revolutionize healthcare, and the faster we can make it happen, the better," she said.

That revolution has already begun. President George W. Bush has set a national goal for every American to have a personal electronic medical record by 2014 and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has started a number of demonstration projects and incentive programs encouraging doctors to bring patient records into the computer age.

Gov. Corzine hopes the state's new Health Information Technology Commission will move efforts along even faster in New Jersey.

The 19-member commission, housed in the state Department of Health and Senior Services, is tasked with drafting a plan for establishing a secure, integrated, and interoperable statewide electronic health information infrastructure that will allow electronic health information and records to be quickly and securely shared among doctors, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, insurers and patients.