New Physician Adoption Statistics

[Commentary] The CDC recently released its latest report on the adoption of electronic health records/electronic medical records (EHR/EMR) amongst office-based physicians from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

As a physician who trained and initially practiced in a time where nearly every order, record, and prescription was paper-based, the results are striking to me. The final results for 2008 show about 16.7 percent of physicians reported having systems that met the criteria of a basic EHR/EMR system, and about 4.4 percent reported that of a fully functional system. Preliminary results for 2009 show about 20.5 percent reported having systems that met the criteria of a basic system, and 6.3 percent reported that of a fully functional system. Combined basic and fully functional statistics for the last 3 years are as follows: 2007 - 17%, 2008 - 21%, Preliminary 2009 - 27% The latest figures, especially the preliminary 2009 numbers, suggest that the pace of adoption of HIT is quickening.