title: Reliability and validity of the American Hospital Association's national longitudinal survey of health information technology adoption.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the internal consistency, construct validity, and criterion validity of a battery of items measuring information technology (IT) adoption, included in the American Hospital Association (AHA) IT Supplement Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the 2012 release of the AHA IT Supplement Survey. We performed reliability analysis using Cronbach's α and part-whole correlations, construct validity analysis using principal component analysis (PCA), and criterion validity analysis by assessing the items' sensitivity and specificity of predicting attestation to Medicare Meaningful Use (MU).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-eight items of the 31-item instrument and five of six functionality subcategories defined by the AHA all produced reliable scales (α's between 0.833 and 0.958). PCA mostly confirmed the AHA's categorization of functionalities; however, some items loaded only weakly onto the factor most associated with their survey category, and one category loaded onto two separate factors. The battery of items was a valid predictor of attestation to MU, producing a sensitivity of 0.82 and a specificity of 0.72.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The battery of items performed well on most indices of reliability and validity. However, they lack some components of ideal survey design, leaving open the possibility that respondents are not responding independently to each item in the survey. Despite measuring only a portion of the objectives required for attestation to MU, the items are a moderately sensitive and specific predictor of attestation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The analyzed instrument exhibits satisfactory reliability and validity.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Everson
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Shoou-Yih D
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA University of Michigan School of Information, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Charles P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Friedman
mesh_terms: D000573:American Hospital Association; D003625:Data Collection; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008490:Medical Informatics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States
keywords: Electronic Health Records; Hospitals; Meaningful Use; Medical Informatics; Reliability and Validity