More than 40% of office-based physicians used electronic health record systems in 2009, according to the latest National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, MedPage Today reports.
The latest findings suggest that EHR adoption has increased significantly during the past decade, up from 18% in 2001.
Survey Details
For the report, NCHS interviewed 3,200 physicians and sent mail surveys to an additional 2,000 doctors (Walker, MedPage Today, 1/8).
Researchers used the surveys to estimate that 43.9% of office-based physicians were using EHRs in 2009. Of those, they note that:
* 20.5% reported having EHRs that included basic features such as clinical notes, laboratory results and prescription orders; and
* 6.3% reported using fully functional EHRs that included additional features such as digital reminders, drug interaction alerts and electronic order transmissions (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 1/11).
2008 Survey
In 2008, the survey found that:
* 17% of physicians had basic EHRs; and
* 4.4% had fully functional systems (MedPage Today, 1/8).
The report notes that the number of physicians using any EHR system increased by 18.7% between 2007 and 2008. During the same period, the number of physicians using basic systems increased by 41.5% (Healthcare IT News, 1/11).