Here are three current trends on health IT adoption.
1. Providers express satisfaction with electronic order sets. A KLAS report shows that although providers can use a variety of tools to improve electronic clinical decision support, 38 percent of survey respondents indicated electronic order sets are having the greatest impact on their organization. Other tools that closely follow in provider satisfaction are evidence-based alerts and reference content, both mentioned by providers as most impactful on their organizations by 19 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
2. Health IT has a positive impact on healthcare in ethnic and rural communities. Multiple studies published in Perspectives in Health Information Management show that the impact of health IT in ethnic and rural communities has been very positive. One such study suggests that African Americans with diabetes were able to improve their health and be more accountable for their health when they used an online diabetes self-management portal complemented by biweekly virtual nurse visits. Another study details health IT efforts taken on by the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth, which uses telemedicine to improve population health, sustain a statewide network for the exchange of health information and increase access to specialty care throughout the state.
3. Many hospitals and health systems are unready for meaningful use. A report published by Accenture suggests that approximately 50 percent of hospitals are at risk of not meeting the requirements of meaningful use by 2015. The survey also suggests a majority of health systems also underestimate the time and costs associated with implementing advanced electronic medical record functions. Other challenges cited in the report include spikes in operating costs of EMRs and difficult health IT personnel challenges.
1. Providers express satisfaction with electronic order sets. A KLAS report shows that although providers can use a variety of tools to improve electronic clinical decision support, 38 percent of survey respondents indicated electronic order sets are having the greatest impact on their organization. Other tools that closely follow in provider satisfaction are evidence-based alerts and reference content, both mentioned by providers as most impactful on their organizations by 19 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
2. Health IT has a positive impact on healthcare in ethnic and rural communities. Multiple studies published in Perspectives in Health Information Management show that the impact of health IT in ethnic and rural communities has been very positive. One such study suggests that African Americans with diabetes were able to improve their health and be more accountable for their health when they used an online diabetes self-management portal complemented by biweekly virtual nurse visits. Another study details health IT efforts taken on by the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth, which uses telemedicine to improve population health, sustain a statewide network for the exchange of health information and increase access to specialty care throughout the state.
3. Many hospitals and health systems are unready for meaningful use. A report published by Accenture suggests that approximately 50 percent of hospitals are at risk of not meeting the requirements of meaningful use by 2015. The survey also suggests a majority of health systems also underestimate the time and costs associated with implementing advanced electronic medical record functions. Other challenges cited in the report include spikes in operating costs of EMRs and difficult health IT personnel challenges.