Three Quarters Of Hospitals Have A Basic EHR

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

According to a study published by Health Affairs, more than three quarters of U.S. hospitals now have at least a basic EHR system in place.

Research published by Health Affairs shows EHR adoption rates in the United States have risen to the point where three quarters of hospitals had at least implemented a basic EHR as of the end of 2014.

“This likely reflects a combination of the availability of financial incentives for the past four years and the impending penalties, at least from the Medicare part of the Meaningful Use (MU) program. Our findings suggest that close to 100 percent hospital adoption of basic EHRs is possible in the near future,” the researchers wrote, according to EHR Intelligence.

According to iHealth Beat, hospitals' adoption of basic and comprehensive EHRs varied by

• location
• ownership
• size
• teaching status

Additionally, FierceEMR reports 32 percent of critical access hospitals and 21.9 percent of non-critical access hospitals have not yet adopted a basic EHR system. They further note startup and ongoing costs of the systems, obtaining physician cooperation, and the complexity of meeting the MU criteria within the required time frames were also barriers to adoption.

“Of particular note is the financial challenges, which are likely to be worsened because hospitals that are not successful in meeting stage 2 objectives when required to do so will face financial penalties,” the researchers wrote. “More broadly, our data point to the need to consider strategies that address ongoing financial challenges related to EHRs that hospitals face, despite the incentives that have been available.”