U.S. hospitals have a long way to go to reach the U.S. government's goal of having providers enter at least 10% of orders electronically, according to a newly published report from market research firm KLAS of Orem, UT.
In the study, KLAS reported that only 14% of all nongovernment-operated hospitals have achieved the expected 10% level of implementation for computerized physician order-entry (CPOE) systems required to demonstrate stage I of the "meaningful use" requirements, allowing qualification for financial incentive payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
The ARRA aims to incentivize electronic health record (EHR) adoption by hospitals and physicians who provide services outside of hospital settings. Funds to pay for these systems are tied to fulfillment of the meaningful use requirements.
CPOE systems have been installed in only 12% of community hospitals that have 200 beds or less, and many of those have reported only a low level of adoption. If all community hospitals were to implement CPOE in time for the earliest possible payment of ARRA funds, more than eight of them would need to go live with CPOE every day from June 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011, according to KLAS.
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