Two-thirds of all U.S. hospitals have achieved meaningful use stage 1 as of July 2013, according to a study in Health Affairs.
Researchers analyzed data from both CMS' Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's Regional Extension Center program.
Of the hospitals that have not attested to meaningful use stage 1 as of July 2013, about half (16 percent of all hospitals) have received Medicaid incentive payments for adopting certified electronic health record technology, and the majority of the rest (11 percent of all hospitals) have either registered for the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Program or enrolled with a regional extension center.
These numbers show significant improvement over the last few years — at the end of 2011, 17 percent of hospitals had attested to meaningful use, and at the end of 2012, 53 percent had attested.
Large hospitals (400 or more beds) have the highest rate of meaningful use achievement (77percent), followed by small rural hospitals (76 percent) and medium-sized (100-399 beds) hospitals (72 percent). Meaningful use achievement rates were slightly lower among critical access hospitals (61 percent) and small urban hospitals (56 percent).
Safety-net hospitals have attested at similar rates as their hospitals serving higher-income patients, and more than 90 percent of the hospitals in the highest quartile of the Disproportionate Share Hospital Index have qualified for an EHR incentive payment.
The 53 percent of hospitals that achieved meaningful use stage 1 by 2012 are in position to move to meaningful use stage 2 in 2014 — this group includes 61 percent of large hospitals, 57 percent of medium-sized hospitals, 59 percent of small rural hospitals, 51 percent of critical access hospitals and 43 percent of small urban hospitals.
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