From the Editor: Meaningful Use Moves Ahead

We always learn so much from our CMIO Health IT Top Trends Survey, and this year doesn’t disappoint. As you’ll see, the cover story offers great insight into the evolution of the CMIO role as well as the changing state of health IT projects compared with last year. Here are some of the ins and outs.

So what’s in?

Meaningful use spending. Respondents say the bulk of health IT implementation budgets and training expenses this year and next will be devoted to facets of EHR adoption, CPOE and clinical decision support. That’s no surprise, but our data also show the meaningful use implementation wave is moving:
  • The number of  respondents who reported having CPOE installed is up nearly 10 percent from last year.
  • More than two-thirds of respondents say their organization has an EHR installed, up by more than 12 percent from 2010.

ICD-10. Meaningful use isn’t the only looming change management issue for many facilities. The transition to ICD-10 jumped onto the top five business priorities list this year.  

Respondents from smaller facilities. Representation among multi-hospital organizations fell by 12 percent from last year to this, and more respondents said they work in community hospitals and facilities with fewer than 500 beds.

What’s out—or maybe not quite here yet?

Mobile device data input. The hype surrounding iPads and other wireless gadgets hasn’t yet translated to clinicians’ data input. Untethered tablets, smartphones and other devices still trail workstations, desktop PCs and computers on wheels as the primary ways that clinicians input and review data. Another recent survey estimates 29 percent of physicians use iPads, while 59 percent use iPhones.  

RFID technology. Although RFID can play a critical role in device security and real-time location capabilities, it’s implemented in only 16 percent of facilities, according to our 2011 responses.

Does this sound like an accurate description of the health IT trends in your organization? Turn to Page 4 for a closer look at our 2011 Health IT Top Trends results. Congratulations to Matthew Upton, MD, of Dunbar, W.Va., who won the iPad—and thank you to all of our 2011 survey respondents.

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