Healthcare Quality News

According to preliminary estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 41.5 of physicians reported using all or partial EMR/EHR systems (not including systems solely for billing) in their office-based practices, up from 42 percent in 2008.

In the CDC report, about 20% of office-based physicians reported having a basic EHR system (including patient demographic information, problem lists, clinical notes, prescription orders, and viewing of lab and imaging results). Just over 6% reported having fully functional systems, which also send prescription and test orders; highlight out-of-range test levels; and provide patient medical history and follow-up information, drug interaction warnings, and reminders for guideline-based interventions.

The CDC report is based on The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an annual nationally representative survey of patient visits to office-based physicians that collects information on use of EMR/EHR.  Data from the 2009 NAMCS will be combined with the mail survey to obtain a final 2009 estimate.

(SOURCES: AHA News Now, http://ahanews.com, January 8, 2010; Center for Disease Control and Prevention, http://cdc.gov, accessed January 15, 2010)