The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT last week released a pair of data briefs on electronic health record adoption and Meaningful Use attestation for acute care hospitals in the U.S., based on data from the American Hospital Association. According to the EHR adoption brief, 44.4 percent of acute care hospitals had implemented a "basic" system, more than tripling adoption rates from 2009 (12.2 percent). According to the Meaningful Use attestation brief, which examined hospital progress in meeting 24 objectives, 16 objectives boasted adoption rates of at least 80 percent in 2012.
"These findings indicate that acute care hospitals have made considerable progress since the passage of the HITECH Act toward the goals of improving health and healthcare through the use of advanced health information technology," the brief's authors wrote.