A recent Becker’s article used some CDC data to rank the best and worst states when it comes to EHR usage. Here’s the top 8 states for EHR usage:
• North Dakota — 79.1 percent
• Minnesota
• Montana
• North Carolina
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Wisconsin
• Iowa — 64.7 percent
And here are the bottom 6 states:
• Tennessee — 38.5 percent
• Florida
• Louisana
• Nevada
• Rhode Island
• New Jersey —29.2 percent
What’s ironic is that just this week I was talking with someone about me writing this healthcare IT blog from the healthcare hub known as Las Vegas (that’s a joke for those following along at home). This person commented that Nevada was way behind on EHR adoption and then they added the small caveat, right? I acknowledged that we were behind, but I must admit that seeing Nevada on this list kind of makes me sad. No one wants their state to be on the bottom of anything.
I did end our discussion by saying that maybe being on the bottom could be a good thing. In other states, they may have rushed their EHR selection and implementation process. If you’re going to choose the wrong EHR or not spend the time to implement the EHR properly, then it might be better to not have an EHR. With that said, I’m still pro-EHR and I hope my state catches up and implements the right EHR in the right way.
Is your state on the list? It would be interesting to see if there’s a correlation between states that have adopted EHR and the quality of care those states provide. Of course, the real challenge is knowing how to measure quality of care.