This data brief from the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT reports on the adoption of electronic health record systems at U.S. hospitals based on data from the 2014 American Hospital Association Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement. All non-federal acute care general medical and surgical, general children’s, and cancer hospitals owned by private/not-for-profit, investor-owned/for-profit, or state/local government and located within the 50 states and District of Columbia were surveyed. The response rate was 60%, and the data was weighted and adjusted based on hospital characteristics (size, ownership, teaching status, system membership, urban status, region, etc.)
As of 2014, 76% of all hospitals had adopted at least a basic electronic health record system. Hospitals in Delaware (100%), South Dakota (95.1%) and Virginia (93.2%) had the highest rate of adoption of basic EHRs, and hospitals in West Virginia (49.6%), Hawaii (54.6%) and Kansas (60.0%) had the lowest rate of adoption (54.8%).
While these rates of adoption of basic EHR systems varies among states, nationally, almost all hospitals (97%) have purchased and now possess more advanced EHR systems that meet the certification requirements of the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (to qualify for meaningful use incentive payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act). Presumably, the rate of adoption of these more advanced, certified EHRs will continue to increase over time.
Ignatius Bau 