Electronic Medical Record Adoption and Use in Home Health and Hospice. NCHS Data Brief, No. 45, September 2010

摘要

To promote the use of electronic health records (EHRs), the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) included financial incentives for meaningful users of EHRs. Although ARRA provisions and incentives apply primarily to physicians' offices and hospitals, persons receiving home health and hospice care also receive care from physicians and hospitals. Coordination of care across sites of care through exchange of clinical information is one priority of ARRA. The increase in use of home health care from 1999 through 2007 suggests that care coordination among other health providers and home health care will become increasingly important. Nationally representative data on electronic medical record (EMR) use by providers of home health and hospice care are limited. This report provides baseline estimates for EMR use by providers of home health or hospice care in 2007, prior to implementation of ARRA incentives.