Health Information Technology in the United States 2013

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently released the Health Information Technology in the United States 2013: Better Information Systems for Better Care Report. According to the report “since 2010, the proportion of hospitals having a basic electronic health record (EHR) has tripled.” With “more than 38 percent of physicians reporting having adopted basic EHRs in 2012.” With incentive programs for health information technology (HIT) adoption, such as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Incentive Program  many hospitals were able to take steps and move toward EHR system adoption. The report shows that while adoption in hospitals was large, the increase in adoption of EHR systems by physicians in private practice was not as large. Small practices continue to lag behind in EHR adoption and will likely need continued support from agencies such as Regional Extension Centers (RAC). In a positive finding the report shows that “physicians and hospitals alike appear to be adopting EHRs with more sophisticated capabilities that enable improvements in the delivery of care and management of patient populations.” The report also suggests that many hospitals are adopting at least as basic EHR system (44 percent) while only 16.7 percent of hospitals have already adopted a comprehensive EHR system. According to the report four areas where most organizations which have adopted EHRs lag behind are related to patie...
Source: Network News - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: EHR General (all entries) Public Health Technology data health IT HIT report statistics Source Type: news