In order to bring greater efficiency and cost savings to the delivery of health services, the healthcare industry is beginning to focus on making sure more patients have access to preventative care. EHRs could play an important role in these efforts.

Experts say the technology enables physicians to efficiently track the procedures each patient has received. Furthermore, EHRs can be set up to deliver automatic reminders to individuals when it is time for them to get a flu shot or have their cholesterol checked.

Dr. Lloyd Fisher, a pediatrician in Worcester, Massachusetts, told the ONC's Health IT Buzz that this ability allows him to make sure patients receive a range of preventative health services.

"We are developing automated letters and emails through our secure patient portal to alert parents when their children are due for a variety of preventive care tests and procedures, including influenza vaccines," he told the news source.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association showed that New York City physicians using EHRs were able to increase preventative health screenings by 2.4 percent per month.The study indicated that doctors using the technology were more likely to measure patients' body mass index, recommend breast cancer screening, check blood pressure, administer flu vaccines and deliver smoking cessation counseling.