Tracking Electronic Health Record Adoption and Capturing Related Insights in U.S. Hospitals

Significant federal investments to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and exchange of clinical data are now in place. It is critical to continue to track the adoption and use of EHRs and related insights to: (1) ascertain the status of adoption and evaluate existing and proposed policy decisions; (2) evaluate the impact of ONC programs and related incentives for meaningful use; and (3) make resources available to ONC and external researchers to assess the effects of health IT adoption and exchange on key aspects of care, such as quality and efficiency. The data generated under this funding opportunity will enable ONC and researchers to carry out these important activities for inpatient settings. The program was also set up to measure the use of health information technology (IT) among office-based physicians. The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to measure the use and impacts of health IT, and level of interoperability among a nationally representative sample of U.S. office-based physicians. The cooperative agreement is intended to produce national-level data on interoperability and use of health IT by office-based physicians. These data shall provide national-level insights on the implementation and effects of federal health IT policies as well as identify disparities or unintended consequences resulting from their implementation.

This listing started as a non-competitive funding opportunity and is restricted to a designated organization. Organizations not designated as such are not eligible to apply for this opportunity, and therefore should not submit an application. Applications submitted by organizations not designated below will not be considered. The designated organization for this opportunity is the American Hospital Association (AHA) This program then evolved into an award made to the American Board of Family Medicine to measure the use of health information technology (IT) among office-based physicians. The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to measure the use and impacts of health IT, and level of interoperability among a nationally representative sample of U.S. office-based physicians. The cooperative agreement is intended to produce national-level data on interoperability and use of health IT by office-based physicians. These data shall provide national-level insights on the implementation and effects of federal health IT policies as well as identify disparities or unintended consequences resulting from their implementation.

The AHA has an ongoing data collection effort in place designed to capture information on the adoption and use of electronic health records, as well as users� attitudes towards them in U.S. hospitals. Since 2008, ONC has supported the data collection and acquired the resulting data through a single-source cooperative agreement. The AHA Annual Survey of Hospitals collects data from more than 6,300 hospitals through the U.S. This data is a primary resource for government agencies and has been used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census Bureau, and CMS. The IT Supplement currently reaches more than 3,500 hospitals in the U.S. The IT Supplement is a separate collection effort from the AHA�s general census tracking survey project that has been conducted continuously since 1946. Over this time span, the general census tracking survey has enjoyed an average response rate in excess of 75 percent. Such a high level of response is exceptional for a voluntary survey that includes both member and non-member hospitals. Building on the success of the general survey, the response rates for the IT Supplement have exceeded 60 percent each year since its inception, an exemplary response rate for a comparatively newer data collection effort. As the leading acute care hospital membership organization (approximately 80 percent of non-federal acute care hospitals are members), the AHA is uniquely suited to build on the response rate successes of prior years. Its...