Adoption of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

Adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) can provide an impetus to a greater degree of overall adoption of Information Technology (IT) in many healthcare organizations. In this study, using a Delphi technique, input from 40 CIO responses is analyzed to provide an insight into acceptance and adoption of EHRs at an enterprise level. Many useful findings emerged from the study. First, a majority of the participants believed that about 40-49 percent of the providers will be using EHRs by the year 2014, thus highlighting the need for studying EHR diffusion in hospitals. As predictors of successful implementations, physicians’ leadership and attitude was ranked as the most important factor. Another significant determinant of success was the business model of the physicians—whether they are affiliated with hospitals or working independently. This factor highlights the need to employ different strategies to encourage adoption of EHRs among these distinct groups. All findings are discussed, including their implications for IT diffusion in healthcare.