Universities and many governments will now have free aceess to 2011 data from the HIMSS Analytics database, the Dorenfest Institute for Health Information Technology, Research and Education, managed by the HIMSS Foundation, announced.
The data covers information about health IT use at about 5,400 hospitals and 26,000 affiliated ambulatory facilities. The information includes market overviews, adoption trends and vendor preferences. In the 2010 Year-End Report on Hospital EMR applications, very few hospitals planned to replace their EHR software; computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and physician documentation demonstrated the most growth; and in many categories Meditech was the preferred vendor.
"With this new 2011 data released through the HIMSS Foundation, the Dorenfest Institute continues to offer an extensive and valuable online resource for eligible researchers," says R. Norris Orms, FACHE, CAE in the announcement. "Access to this data helps meet the academic and global demand for health IT data to improve patient care."
The evaluation of the use and effectiveness of EHRs and other health IT has become increasingly important as the industry hurries to adopt EHRs before reimbursement penalties kick in in 2015 under the Meaningful Use incentive program.
The government has come under fire in recent months regarding the effectiveness of the Meaningful Use program, with some members of Congress suggesting that it be "rebooted" and others calling for freezes on Meaningful Use incentive payments.
To learn more:
- here's the announcement
- read the 2010 year end report