Meaningful Use Legislation Lead to an Increase in EHR Adoption, Study Shows

Despite constant arguments to the contrary, a recent study shows that the Meaningful Use program has sped up the conversion from paper to EHR.

This article was originally published on August 17, 2017, on the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists.

The effect of the meaningful use incentives and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 have been hotly contested. While some say the programs increased the rate of EHR adoption, early studies showed that that was not the case.

A new study, however, published on August 7 in Health Affairs, contradicts such analysis, showing that adoption rose from 3.2% three years prior to the rule to 14.2% five years following implementation, according to research from  the University of Michigan and Harvard University, FierceHealthcare reported. Hospitals that were ineligible for incentive payments saw a lower adoption rate increasing from 0.1% per year prior to the law to 3.3% after, according to FierceHealthcare.

“Our results support the argument that recent gains in EHR adoption can be attributed specifically to HITECH, which suggests that the act could serve as a model for ways to drive the adoption of other valuable technologies,” the researchers wrote.

Though the incentives increased EHR adoption rates, the researchers did not call the implementation an “unqualified success,” but rather a first step in the right direction. Regardless, the researchers wrote, “there are likely very few other policies that have driven such substantial change in such a short period.”

Editor’s note: To read FierceHealthcare’s coverage of this study, click here. To read the study in its entirety, click here. To read about leveraging artificial intelligence for CDI, click here. To read about leveraging technology in general for CDI, click here.