The ONC has pointed to a recent survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics as evidence the electronic health record incentive programs are working as intended to foster EHR use among physicians.
According to the CDC survey, 78 percent of office-based physicians used an EHR system in 2013, up from 18 percent in 2001. Additionally, 69 percent of office-based physicians reported they intend to attest to meaningful use, with 13 percent reporting they have an EHR system ready for meaningful use stage 2.
"From 2010 through 2013, physician adoption of 7 of the 17 capabilities required for Stage 2 core objectives for meaningful use increased significantly," National Center for Health Statistics health policy researcher and lead author Chun-Ju Hsiao, PhD, said in the report. Electronic prescribing and adverse drug event alerts had the largest increase among the stage 2 capabilities, he said.
National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, cited the number of physicians who had met at least some of the meaningful use stage 2 criteria well before the deadline as a sign EHR adoption among physicians is on track. "This survey was performed in early 2013 — before 2014 certified products were even available. The deadline to begin attesting for meaningful use stage 2 is October 2014 for the earliest adopters of meaningful use stage 1, so more than one in 10 physicians decided on their own to participate," Dr. DeSalvo wrote in a blog post. "Overall, we are encouraged to see that physician adoption of EHRs meeting meaningful use stage 2 is increasing significantly."
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