More consumers are gaining access to their medical records online because more physician groups are deploying electronic health records systems. 74.1% of office-based physicians now have electronic health records technology, says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

But many doctors say they are spending too much time updating patient records and thats taking away from patient care, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study of 57 physicians in Illinois, New Hampshire, Virginia and Washington led by Dr. Christine Sinsky, a Dubuque, Iowa, internist, finds that during a typical day at the office physicians spend 49.2% of their time attending to maintaining and updating electronic records systems and related administrative tasks and only 27% seeing patients face to face.

Even when they are in the examination room with a patient, 37% of the encounter is spent entering data into the computer records system and 63% on patient care. For every hour physicians provide direct clinical face time to patients, nearly two additional hours is spent on electronic health records and desk work within the clinic day, Sinsky wrote in a summary posted for the online edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Outside office hours, physicians spend another 1 to 2 hours of personal time each night doing additional computer and other clerical work.

Nearly two-thirds64%of doctors feel they have less free time now than when they began their careers, according to a survey of 1,000 doctors working at private, hospital-based and other specialty group practices. The survey was conducted by Locumstory.com, an educational web site and industry research organization founded by physician staffing company CHG Healthcare Service.

Sinsky and her colleagues confirm what many physicians have claimed: electronic health records in their current state occupy a lot of physicians time and draw attention away from their direct interactions with patients and their personal lives, Dr. Susan Hingle, an associate professor of internal medicine at the Southern Illinois School of Medicine, writes in an editorial for the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Doctors spending more time online record-keeping and less time seeing patients results in poorer patient care and reduces patient satisfaction, Hingle writes. Electronic health records were implemented to improve the efficiency and quality of care but they have yet to achieve that promise, she writes. The work of physicians has changed dramatically in recent years at least partially due to electronic health records.

The Annals of Internal Medicine study didnt offer any suggestions on how to reduce the demands on doctors from online medical record-keeping. But Hingle notes that the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians have launched initiatives such as Patients before Paperwork to collect more data on how doctors interact with electronic health records systems and propose reforms, including giving physicians more of a say in how future records systems and procedures are developed and deployed. Now is the time to go beyond complaining about electronic health records and other practice hassles and to make needed changes to the healthcare system that will redirect our focus from the computer screen to our patients, she writes.