Hospital progress toward Meaningful Use, so far

After languishing in the single digits for many years, hospital EHR adoption rates are dramatically increasing. A major driver is the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, or the "Meaningful Use" program. A recent Health Affairs study suggested hospital participation in the program was lagging. In this post, we report the latest data, which paint a different picture — as of July 2013, two-thirds of hospitals have achieved Stage 1 Meaningful Use, and nearly all are engaged with the program in some way. The incentive programs were designed to support greater adoption and use of EHRs, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care and health system outcomes.