■ ■ ONC Data Brief No. 23 April 2015
Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among U.S. Non-
Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
Dustin Charles, MPH; Meghan Gabriel, PhD; Talisha Searcy, MPA, MA
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009
directed the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to
promote the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). In addition, the
adoption and increased use of health IT products is a keystone objective of the Federal Health IT
Strategic Plan (1). This brief describes trends in adoption of EHR systems among non-federal
acute care hospitals from 2008 to 2014. It tracks both the adoption of Basic EHR systems and the
possession of EHR technology certified to meet federal requirements. Basic EHR adoption
represents a minimum use of core functionality determined to be essential to an EHR system (see
Table A1). This brief refers to Basic EHR adoption with clinical notes unless otherwise stated. A
certified EHR is EHR technology that meets the technological capability, functionality, and
security requirements adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Three out of Four Hospitals have a Basic EHR System.
Figure 1: Percent of non-Federal acute care hospitals with adoption of at least a Basic EHR with notes system and
possession of a certified EHR: 2008-2014
NOTES: Basic EHR adoption requires the EHR system to have a set of EHR functions defined in Table A1. A certified EHR is EHR technology that
meets the technological capability, functionality, and security requirements adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services. Possession
means that the hospital has a legal agreement with the EHR vendor, but is not equivalent to adoption.
*Significantly different from previous year (p < 0.05).
SOURCE: ONC/American Hospital Association (AHA), AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement
.
In 2014, 3 out of 4 (76%) hospitals had adopted at least a Basic EHR system. This
represents an increase of 27% from 2013 and an eight-fold increase since 2008.
Nearly all reported hospitals (97%) possessed a certified EHR technology in 2014,
increasing by 35% since 2011.
For all states, at least half of hospitals adopted a Basic EHR.
Table 1: Percent of non-federal acute care hospitals with adoption of at least a Basic EHR system by U.S. State,
2014.
State
Basic EHR, %
n (N)
State
Basic EHR, %
n (N)
United States
75.5
2682 (4451)
Missouri
68.5§
111(111)
Alabama
72.5
35(89)
Montana
70.6
27(54)
Alaska
76.1
7(21)
Nebraska
66.9
48(84)
Arizona
88.6†
31(62)
Nevada
63.6
13(30)
Arkansas
91.1†
35(71)
New Hampshire
71.7
17(26)
California
71.6
170(325)
New Jersey
70.0
44(64)
Colorado
81.7†
50(71)
New Mexico
73.4
18(32)
Connecticut
81.2
22(29)
New York
72.5
110(170)
Delaware
100.0†
5(6)
North Carolina
78.4
60(106)
District of Columbia
67.5
6(8)
North Dakota
81.7
14(41)
Florida
87.0†
119(182)
Ohio
67.5§
100(154)
Georgia
82.3†
66(130)
Oklahoma
68.7
47(105)
Hawaii
54.8§
12(22)
Oregon
81.4
36(59)
Idaho
69.5
19(38)
Pennsylvania
72.4
107(154)
Illinois
85.0†
126(177)
Rhode Island
82.6
6(10)
Indiana
83.1†
61(107)
South Carolina
68.1†
26(58)
Iowa
74.9
85(117)
South Dakota
95.1
22(51)
Kansas
60.0§
92(125)
Tennessee
77.9
52(114)
Kentucky
65.1§
60(96)
Texas
71.7§
231(342)
Louisiana
75.3
42(98)
Utah
77.5
21(44)
Maine
79.1
19(34)
Vermont
83.1
5(14)
Maryland
90.7†
33(45)
Virginia
93.2†
51(80)
Massachusetts
76.9
36(62)
Washington
77.4
32(89)
Michigan
71.7
83(128)
West Virginia
49.6§
24(49)
Minnesota
84.7†
124(128)
Wisconsin
77.4
82(125)
Mississippi
75.6
25(90)
Wyoming
67.9
15(24)
NOTES: Basic EHR adoption requires the EHR system to have a set of EHR functions defined in Table A1.
n = survey respondents; N = hospitals surveyed. All estimates met standards for reliability.
†Significantly higher than national average
§Significantly lower than national average (p < 0.05)
SOURCE: ONC/AHA, AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement
State rates of hospital adoption of at least a Basic EHR system ranged from 50% to
100%.
Delaware (100%), South Dakota (95%), and Virginia (93%) had the highest percent of
hospitals with adoption of at least a Basic EHR system.
West Virginia (50%), Hawaii (55%), and Kansas (60%) had the lowest percent of
hospitals with adoption of at least a Basic EHR system.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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State adoption rates have increased from 2008 to 2014.
Figure 2: State percent of non-federal acute care hospitals with adoption of at least a Basic EHR system compared
with prior years.
NOTES: Basic EHR adoption requires the EHR system to have at least a basic set of EHR functions, including clinician notes, as defined in Table A1.
Estimates for states shaded gray did not meet the standards for reliability (NR). See the Table A2 for a complete list of 2008 and 2011 hospital
adoption by state.
SOURCE: ONC/AHA, AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement
In 2008, hospital adoption of at least a Basic EHR system was above 20% in only 2
states (Connecticut and New Mexico).
Three years later, hospital adoption of at least a Basic EHR system was above 20% in 32
states and above 40% in 7 states.
In 2014, hospital adoption of at least a Basic EHR system was above 60% in all but 2
states (Hawaii and West Virginia), and above 80% in 17 states.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
3
Trends in EHR adoption show increasing use of advanced functionality.
Figure 3: Percent of non-federal acute care hospitals with adoption of EHR systems by level of functionality: 2008-
2014.
NOTES: Definitions of Basic EHR and Comprehensive EHR systems are reported in Table A1.
*Significantly different from previous year (p < 0.05).
SOURCE: ONC/AHA, AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement.
Fewer hospitals are using Basic EHRs without Clinician Notes, while the systems with
more advanced functionality have increased significantly.
Hospital adoption of Comprehensive EHR systems has increased eleven-fold since 2009,
rising to a third (34.4%) of hospitals in 2014.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S
. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
4
Summary
Adoption of EHR systems by non-federal acute care hospitals has steadily increased since
HITECH. Basic EHR adoption represents a minimum use of core functionality determined to be
essential to an EHR system (2). In 2014, 3 in 4 (76%) non-federal acute care hospitals had
adopted at least a Basic EHR system with clinician notes. This represents a 27% increase from
the previous year and a more than eight-fold increase in EHR adoption since 2008. At 16
percentage points higher than 2013, this is the second highest increase in adoption since 2012 (17
percentage points).
Moreover, since the passage of the HITECH Act in 2009, state EHR adoption rates have
increased. EHR adoption rates increased from only 2 states reporting rates higher than 20% to all
states reporting rates 50% or higher by 2014. Furthermore, only 2 states currently have adoption
rates below 60%.
In addition to growth in EHR adoption overall, hospital adoption of technology with advanced
functionality increased significantly. While fewer hospitals used Basic EHR systems without
clinician notes, significantly more adopted systems with clinician notes. Additionally, over a
third of hospitals were using more advanced EHR functionality. Hospital adoption of
Comprehensive EHR systems has increased more than eleven-fold in the last five years.
Finally, a vast majority of acute care hospitals (97%) possessed EHR technology certified to
meet federal requirements. These hospitals should have the technology needed to meet EHR
Incentive Program objectives. These systems are also certified to be secure and able to work with
other certified systems to share information. Thus, the increase in the rate of adoption for
certified EHR technology shed a positive light on hospitals’ progress towards the interoperable
exchange of health information.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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Definitions
Non-federal acute care hospital: Includes acute care general medical and surgical, general
children’s, and cancer hospitals owned by private/not-for-profit, investor-owned/for-profit, or
state/local government and located within the 50 states and District of Columbia. The inclusion
of children’s general and cancer hospitals makes this definition different from previous peer-
reviewed research (3). However, it is more consistent with the population of hospitals eligible for
federal health IT adoption incentives.
Adoption of Basic EHR: Table A1 defines the electronic functions required for hospital adoption
of a Basic or Comprehensive EHR system, which a consensus expert panel established (2). Basic
EHR adoption requires that each function be implemented in at least one unit in the hospital.
However, Comprehensive EHR adoption requires that each function be implemented in all units.
Because the panel disagreed on the need to include physician notes and nursing assessments to
classify a Basic system, so they developed two definitions of Basic EHR adoption (Basic EHR
without Notes and Basic EHR with Notes) (2). Since the first stage of the CMS EHR Incentive
Program did not require clinician notes, an earlier brief reported Basic EHR without Clinician
Notes (4). However, clinician notes are now a requirement for the second stage (5), the definition
of Basic EHR in this brief includes clinician notes as a requirement for at least a Basic EHR
system.
Possession of Certified EHR: A certified EHR is EHR technology that meets the technological
capability, functionality, and security requirements adopted by the Department of Health and
Human Services. This includes the capability to securely work with other certified EHR systems
to share information (interoperability). “Possession” of certified EHR technology is considered
to be either the physical possession of the medium on which a certified EHR system resides or a
legally enforceable right by a health care provider to access and use, at its discretion, the
capabilities of a certified EHR system.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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Data Source and Methods
Data are from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Information Technology (IT)
Supplement to the AHA Annual Survey. Since 2008, ONC has partnered with the AHA to
measure the adoption and use of health IT in U.S. hospitals. ONC funded the 2014 AHA IT
Supplement to track hospital adoption and use of EHRs and the exchange of clinical data.
The chief executive officer of each U.S. hospital was invited to participate in the survey
regardless of AHA membership status. The person most knowledgeable about the hospital’s
health IT (typically the chief information officer) was requested to provide the information via a
mail survey or secure online site. Non-respondents received follow-up mailings and phone calls
to encourage response. The survey was fielded from November 2014 to the end of February
2015.
This analysis consisted of non-federal, acute care hospitals, including children’s and cancer
hospitals. Differences in the estimates in this brief from a prior study reporting Basic EHR
adoption with clinician notes (6) are due to the inclusion of children’s and cancer hospitals and
small differences in the calculation of hospital-level weights.
The response rate for non-federal acute care hospitals was 60%. A logistic regression model was
used to predict the propensity of survey response as a function of hospital characteristics,
including size, ownership, teaching status, system membership, availability of a cardiac intensive
care unit, urban status, and region. Hospital-level weights were derived by the inverse of the
predicted propensity.
Estimates considered unreliable had a relative standard error adjusted for finite populations
greater than 0.49. Responses with missing values were assigned zero values. Significant
differences were tested using p < 0.05 as the threshold.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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References
1. “Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020,” Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology, 2014, page 2. Available at
http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/federal-healthIT-strategic-plan-2014.pdf.
2. Blumenthal D, DesRoches CM, Donelan K, Ferris TG, Jha AK, Kaushal R, et al. Health
Information Technology in the United States: The Information Base for Progress.
Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; 2006.
3. DesRoches CM, Worzala C, Joshi MS, Kralovec PD, Jha AK. “Small, Nonteaching, and
Rural Hospitals Continue to be Slow in Adopting Electronic Health Record Systems.”
Health Affairs. 31(5): 1092-1099; 2012.
4. Charles D, Furukawa MF, Hufstader M. “Electronic Health Record Systems and Intent to
Attest to Meaningful Use among Non-federal Acute Care Hospitals in the United States:
2008-2011” ONC Data Brief, no 1. Washington, DC: Office of the National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology. February 2012.
5. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. [Medicare and Medicaid] EHR Incentive
Programs. Available form: https://www.cms.gov/ehrincentiveprograms.
6. Jha AK, DesRoches CM, Campbell EG, Donelan K, Rao SR, Ferris TG, Shields A,
Rosenbaum S, Blumenthal D. Use of Electronic Health Records in U.S. Hospitals. New
England Journal of Medicine. 360(16): 1628-38; 2009.
About the Authors
The authors are with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology,
Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Analysis.
Suggested Citation
Charles, D., Gabriel, M., Searcy T. (April 2015) Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems
among U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014. ONC Data Brief, no.23. Office of
the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: Washington DC.
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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Appendix
Table A1: Electronic Functions Required for Hospital Adoption of Basic or Comprehensive EHR Systems
EHR Functions
Required
Basic EHR without
Clinician Notes
Basic EHR with
Clinician Notes
Comprehensive
EHR
Electronic Clinical
Information
Patient demographics
Physician notes
Nursing assessments
Problem lists
Medication lists
Discharge summaries
Advance directives
Computerized Provider
Order Entry
Lab reports
Radiology tests
Medications
Consultation requests
Nursing orders
Results Management
View lab reports
View radiology reports
View radiology images
View diagnostic test results
View diagnostic test images
View consultant report
Decision Support
Clinical guidelines
Clinical reminders
Drug allergy results
Drug-drug interactions
Drug-lab interactions
Drug dosing support
NOTES: Basic EHR adoption requires each function to be implemented in at least one clinical unit, and Comprehensive EHR adoption requires each
function to be implemented in all clinical units
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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Table A2: Percent of non-federal acute care hospitals with adoption of at least a Basic EHR system by U.S. State,
2008 & 2011.
State 2008 Basic EHR, % n (N) State 2011 Basic EHR, % n (N)
United States
United States
Alabama 9% 34(99) Alabama 22% 44(95)
Alaska 0% 7(21) Alaska NR 13(22)
Arizona 14% 31(60) Arizona 17% 31(62)
Arkansas 9% 53(75) Arkansas 32% 40(72)
California 9% 179(343) California 22% 153(333)
Colorado 11% 41(70) Colorado 30% 42(72)
Connecticut 22% 24(31) Connecticut 22% 22(30)
Delaware 0% 4(6) Delaware 39% 5(6)
District of Columbia NR 5(9) District of Columbia 37% 8(9)
Florida 11% 96(186) Florida 51% 93(183)
Georgia 5% 78(140) Georgia 15% 53(139)
Hawaii NR 11(22) Hawaii NR 9(23)
Idaho NR 24(39) Idaho 19% 24(39)
Illinois 9% 130(185) Illinois 35% 131(180)
Indiana 11% 70(106) Indiana 19% 66(107)
Iowa 2% 79(117) Iowa 35% 83(117)
Kansas 0% 76(122) Kansas 19% 102(123)
Kentucky 6% 67(97) Kentucky 24% 58(98)
Louisiana 8% 58(108) Louisiana 14% 48(101)
Maine 3% 29(36) Maine 20% 24(36)
Maryland 16% 37(46) Maryland 28% 39(46)
Massachusetts 9%
35(71)
Massachusetts
37%
39(67)
Michigan 14% 103(133) Michigan 31% 87(133)
Minnesota 17% 80(128) Minnesota 44% 127(131)
Mississippi 8% 39(90) Mississippi 17% 37(88)
Missouri 9% 69(113) Missouri 35% 113(113)
Montana 6% 33(54) Montana 15% 31(54)
Nebraska 6% 50(83) Nebraska 19% 52(84)
Nevada 0% 11(29) Nevada 36% 13(30)
New Hampshire 4% 23(26) New Hampshire 29% 14(26)
New Jersey 16% 40(66) New Jersey 11% 41(63)
New Mexico 22% 16(31) New Mexico 23% 16(29)
New York 11% 120(190) New York 26% 118(177)
North Carolina 11% 79(109) North Carolina 24% 76(111)
North Dakota NR 20(42) North Dakota NR 15(42)
Ohio 4% 115(157) Ohio 20% 96(158)
Oklahoma 15% 56(103) Oklahoma 14% 39(102)
Oregon 17% 30(57) Oregon 42% 25(58)
Pennsylvania 8% 111(163) Pennsylvania 30% 109(158)
Rhode Island NR 6(11) Rhode Island 55% 9(11)
South Carolina 7% 39(59) South Carolina 27% 24(57)
South Dakota 11% 47(51) South Dakota 17% 27(51)
Tennessee 6% 61(114) Tennessee 21% 49(116)
Texas 9% 215(346) Texas 20% 175(349)
Utah NR 20(41) Utah NR 8(41)
Vermont 15% 13(14) Vermont 45% 7(14)
Virginia 15% 52(80) Virginia 53% 40(79)
Washington 7% 46(85) Washington 38% 51(85)
West Virginia 7% 38(50) West Virginia 23% 27(50)
Wisconsin 10% 85(122) Wisconsin 47% 73(121)
Wyoming 10% 20(24) Wyoming 21% 15(24)
NOTES: Basic EHR adoption requires the EHR system to have a set of EHR functions defined in Table A1.
n = survey respondents; N = hospitals surveyed. NR = estimate does not meet standards for reliability.
SOURCE: ONC/AHA, AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement
ONC Data Brief No. 23 | Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems among
U.S. Non-Federal Acute Care Hospitals: 2008-2014
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