Dive Brief:
- Almost all U.S. hospitals have adopted certified EHRs, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
- In 2015, 96% of nonfederal acute care hospitals possessed a certified EHR technology, and 84% adopted at least a basic EHR system — a nine-fold increase over 2008.
- Data also show more hospitals are sharing data electronically, with 85% sending key clinical information to other hospitals.
Dive Insight:
The survey also found eight out of 10 small, rural and critical access hospitals have adopted basic EHR. But adoption by children’s and psychiatric hospitals, was much lower than general hospitals — 55% versus 84%.
For all states, basic EHR adoption rates in 2015 were above 65%, or roughly six in 10 hospitals.
The data also point to progress on interoperability — a major goal of Congress, HHS and ONC. In addition to increased sending of information, 65% of hospitals reported receiving data, and 38% said they used or integrated patient summary of care records obtained from outside sources.
Further, about half of hospitals said their providers use patient health information sent electronically from outside providers when treating their patients.
Reasons for not using patient information received electronically from outside sources included: Information not available to view in the EHR as part of the clinician’s workflow (53%), difficulty integrating information in the EHR (45%), information not available when needed (40%), information not presented in a useful format (29%), information source not trusted (11%) and other (18%).