Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the potential benefits of and impediments to the use of automatic data processing (ADP) systems in managing medical patient care records. GAO found that automated medical records could: (1) greatly improve patient care management due to their quick accessibility, improved accuracy, higher quality, increased versatility, and decisionmaking and quality assurance support; and (2) enhance outcomes research and increase hospital efficiency by improving staff productivity and reducing operating costs. GAO also found that many health professionals did not fully use automated medical records because: (1) they perceived such systems as difficult to operate and foreign to their practice of medicine, although this could be alleviated by emerging technology and adequate training; (2) the necessary technology for completely automating those records seemed too costly or was not yet fully developed; (3) of undeveloped standards for automating those records and lack of agreement within the medical community; and (4) of unaddressed security and privacy concerns and their potential legal implications.