How common are electronic health records in the United States? A summary of the evidence.
Electronic health records (EHRs) are promising tools to improve quality and efficiency in health care, but data on their adoption rate are limited. We identified surveys on EHR adoption and assessed their quality. Although surveys returned widely different estimates of EHR use, when available information is limited to studies of high or medium quality, national estimates are possible: Through 2005, approximately 23.9 percent of physicians used EHRs in the ambulatory setting, while 5 percent of hospitals used computerized physician order entry. Large gaps in knowledge, including information about EHR use among safety-net providers, pose critical challenges for the development of policies aimed at speeding adoption.
Jha
Ashish K
AK
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. ajha@hsph.harvard.edu
Ferris
Timothy G
TG
Donelan
Karen
K
DesRoches
Catherine
C
Shields
Alexandra
A
Rosenbaum
Sara
S
Blumenthal
David
D
D000555:Ambulatory Care Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008824:Michigan; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D014481:United States