The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) supports two national health IT adoption surveys: one of physician offices and one of hospitals.

The surveys:

• Assess the current state of health IT adoption;
• Specify measurable goals and methods for evaluating strategies; and,
• Determine approaches that can accelerate health IT adoption in a cost-effective manner

 

 Adoption rates

Setting	2006	2007	2008	2009*
Physicians offices (basic**)	11%	13%	17%	21%
Physicians offices (full**)	3%	4%	4%	6%
Hospitals (basic**)	N/A	N/A	8%	N/A
Hospitals (full**)	N/A	N/A	2%	N/A

*2009 statistics are preliminary.
**"Full" and "Basic" functionalities are outlined below.

 

 

Physician office survey:

A national survey was conducted through the CDC National Ambulatory Medical Survey (NAMC) of approximately 2,700 physicians, a response rate of 62%. The survey used a definition for EHRs that was based on expert consensus and determine the proportion of physicians who were using such records in an office setting and the relationship between adoption and the characteristics of individual physicians and their practices.

The survey can be used to define two levels of electronic health record: basic and full.

 

Hospital Survey:

A national survey of all U.S hospitals was conducted as an appendix to the American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey. In 2008, the response rate was 63%, representing 3037 hospitals. The survey used a definition for electronic health records that was based on expert consensus and determines the proportion of hospitals who were using such records across the entire hospital as well as the relationship between adoption and certain hospital characteristics.

The survey can be used to define two levels of electronic health record: basic and full.

 

References:

CDC's Electronic Medical Record/Electronic Health Record Use by Office-based Physicians: United States, 2008 and Preliminary 2009
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/359/1/50
http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=31831