For years, the federal government has pushed the importance of electronic health records, touting their benefit to hospitals, physicians, and patients. And, by all accounts, U.S. hospitals have worked toward implementation. Close to 75 percent of them, according to a recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society survey, have progressed at least one step on the eight-step implementation ladder in the past five years.
What’s troubling for HIMSS, though, is that remaining quarter.
“Hospitals by and large have made great strides in advancing their [EHR] capabilities, yet there is a sizeable segment of the market that seems to be “stuck” in their progression and is at risk of being left behind by the rest of the herd (of U.S. hospitals),” the groups said. “Efforts need to be taken now to address their needs and challenges to ensure these “at-risk” hospitals survive for the next five years.”
Even more troubling: the four percent of hospitals that have an entirely paper-based system.
