While practice setting and size are the strongest predictors of physicians' access to clinical information technology (IT) in their practices, significant variation in IT adoption exists across specialties, according to a national study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
HSC, a nonpartisan policy research organization located in Washington, the study examined whether physicians had access to information technology in their practices for the following five clinical activities:
- Obtaining information about treatment alternatives or recommended guidelines
- Accessing patient notes, medication lists or problem lists
- Writing prescriptions
- Exchanging clinical data and images with other physicians
- Exchanging clinical data and images with hospitals
According to the study, across primary care, medical and surgical specialties, significant variation in access to IT exists.
