EHR Acceptance among Physicians in Private Practice in Austria: A Qualitative Study

Background: Progress in the medical sci ences, together with related technologies, in the past has led to higher specialization and has created a strong need to exchange health information across institutional borders. The concept of electronic health records (EHR) was introduced to fulfill these needs. Remarkably, many EHR introduction projects ran into trouble, not least because they lacked the acceptance of EHR among physicians. Negative emotions, such as anxiety and fear due to a lack of information, may cause change barriers and hamper physicians’ acceptance of such projects. Objectives: The goal of this study was to gain deeper insight into the negative emotions related to the intended implementation of a mandatory national electronic health record system (called ELGA) in Austria among physi cians in private practice.