People are always interested in learning what the adoption rates for EMR software are in the US. Chilmark recently posted about a Harvard School of Public Health study that was presented at the PHAT conference. This study focused on EMR adoption rates and the reasons that doctors and practice managers have chosen not to adopt an EMR, yet. Here’s a summary of the findings:
Hospital EMR
- 90% of Hospitals have no functional comprehensive EHR
- Mostly large hospitals and teaching hospitals do
- Top Barriers to EMR Adoption: Inadequate capital (73%), maintenance costs (44%) and physician resistance (36%)
Ambulatory EMR
- 83% do not have a functional EHR
- 17% stated they have purchased an EHR, but not implemented
- 26% plan to purchase an EMR in the next 2 years
- Top Barriers to EMR Adoption: lack of capital (67%), finding a system that meets their needs (54%) and uncertainty of ROI (51%)
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I wonder how these numbers are going to change within the next year to two years.
It’s an interesting question for sure. I think there’s o doubt that in the short term we’ll see an increase in EMR adoption. I think EMR adoption after that initial wave is likely to depend on the success or failure of the first wave of EMR adopters. For example, if many of the EMR adopters fail to get the EMR stimulus money we can probably expect another slow down in EMR adoption.