ONC: EHR Adoption in Hospitals Has Tripled Since HITECH
According to a new data brief issued by the Office for the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC), adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems among U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals has more than tripled since the passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) from 12.2 percent in 2009 to 44.4 percent this year.
The ONC data brief, which also uses data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey, reveals that the percentage of hospitals that use certified EHR technology has increased from 72 percent in 2011 to 85 percent in 2012.
The brief also broke down the different states and how they rank on adoption. Adoption of basic EHR systems ranges from approximately 21 percent in New Hampshire to approximately 71 percent in South Dakota. Overall, 12 states had a significantly higher average of basic EHR adoption in acute care hospitals than the national average of 44 percent, while 11 had a significantly lower adoption rate than the national average.
In an additional data brief, ONC revealed since HITECH, there has been strong growth of EHR technology that meets Meaningful Use. For instance, hospitals adoption of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) has increased by 167 percent from 2008 to 2012.
