EHR adoption up, but few ready for Stage 2

Few healthcare providers have adopted an EHR that would meet the requirements of Meaningful Use Stage 2, according to survey results from National Center for Health Statistics.

This edition of the annual National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, conducted between February 2013 and June 2013, included 10,302 randomly selected physicians.

More than three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents reported some use of an EHR system in 2013. Use of EHRs increased by 6.6 percentage points from 2012, according to the survey. And, adoption of a "fully functional" EHR system increased from 23.5 percent in 2012 to 31.1 percent in 2013.

Sixty-nine percent of physicians surveyed said they intended to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid EHR incentive programs. However, only 13 percent of office-based physicians said they intend to participate in the program and had an EHR system with the capabilities to meet 14 of the 17 Stage 2 core set objectives. Almost 12 percent of respondents said they do not plan to participate in MU.

Read the complete report.

Beth Walsh,

Editor

Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.

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