ONC: 76% of Acute Care Hospitals Have Basic EHR System

Seventy-six percent of non-federal acute care hospitals in 2014 adopted at least a basic electronic health record system with clinician notes—a 27 percent increase from 2013—according to new data from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.


Seventy-six percent of non-federal acute care hospitals in 2014 adopted at least a basic electronic health record system with clinician notes—a 27 percent increase from 2013—according to new data from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

“While fewer hospitals used basic EHR systems without clinician notes, significantly more adopted systems with clinician notes,” states the ONC brief based on data from the American Hospital Association IT supplement to AHA’s annual survey. “Additionally, over a third of hospitals were using more advanced EHR functionality.”

Also See: Hospital Health Information Exchange Up 23% in 2014

Basic EHR adoption represents a minimum use of core functionaliy determined to be essential to an EHR system, according to ONC, including clinician notes. The set of EHR functions must be implemented in at least one clinical unit to be considered basic EHR adoption, and comprehensive EHR adoption requires each function to be implemented in all clinical units.

Fewer hospitals are using basic EHRs without clinician notes, finds ONC, while the systems with more advanced functionality have increased significantly. Specifically, hospital adoption of comprehensive EHR systems has increased to a third (34.4 percent) of hospitals in 2014 compared to a quarter (25.7 percent) in 2013.

ONC also reports that in 2014 a vast majority of acute care hospitals (97 percent) possessed EHR technology certified to meet federal requirements. “These hospitals should have the technology needed to meet EHR Incentive Program objectives,” states the agency. “These systems are also certified to be secure and able to work with other certified systems to share information.”

The ONC data brief, Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014, can be found here.

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