CAHs report challenges, progress with health IT

As essential healthcare hubs for patients in remote or rural areas, critical access hospitals (CAHs) especially benefit from health IT systems and capabilities, according to a Health IT Buzz blog post authored by Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) officials.

CAHs are reporting both progress and challenges in EHR and advanced health IT adoption. The blog post cites an article in the July issue of Health Affairs, which found that (of as 2013):

• 89 percent of CAHs had an EHR in place; 62 percent of CAHs with an EHR had a fully EHR system, and 27 percent had a part-electronic, part-paper record system.
• Most CAHs adopted or planned to adopt health IT capabilities, such as telehealth, teleradiology, care coordination and health information exchange (HIE) with other providers and patients, by the end of 2014.
• CAHs reported the highest rates of adoption for teleradiology (70 percent) and telehealth (59 percent) capabilities. Fewer CAHs reported other capabilities related to HIE and even fewer (15 percent) reported patient engagement capabilities.
• Financing and workforce related challenges were most commonly reported.
• CAHs that shared resources with other hospitals were more likely to have EHR and HIE and care coordination capabilities.
• CAHs with faster internet upload speeds were more likely to have the capability to provide patients with the option to view, download and transmit their health data.

“ONC and other federal agencies are partnering with others non-governmental organizations to help CAHs identify and apply to financial assistance programs. We are also helping them determine their eligibility for these programs,” reported ONC officials in the blog post.

The blog further noted that as of Sept. 30, 2013, ONC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture piloted a public-private collaborative funding initiative that generated over $32 million in funding to critical access and rural hospitals across four states.