Practices adopting electronic health records and other health IT tools should consider ways to use the technology to improve quality while holding down costs, according to speakers at a recent conference.

Speaking at the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium's HealthMart 2011, Richard Shoup, the state's health IT coordinator, said that there are many reasons to implement EHR systems, but the potential to lower costs through the use of the technology is perhaps the most important, according to Search Health IT.

"This is not a trivial exercise, as we all know, and there's going to be a lot of conversations about it," he said, according to the news source. "But at the end of the day, we need to figure out a way to manage costs and improve quality, safety and efficiency."

There is significant information suggesting that EHRs can lower healthcare costs. For example, a 2010 report from the Government Accountability Office stated that one reason for high costs is fragmentation in the healthcare community. However, EHRs facilitate collaboration, which can lower expenses.