While California providers are stepping up their use of EMRs, they’re still behind on some other measures of health IT adoption, according to a new report by the California HealthCare Foundation.
First, the positives. California physicians who use EMRs grew from 37 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2013. The report also concluded that 50 percent of California hospitals used EMRs in 2012, compared with 13 percent in 2007, and that 65 percent of community health centers used EMRs in 2011, compared with 3 percent in 2005.
All that being said, California providers are behind when it comes to Meaningful Use. While 58 percent of them said in 2012 that they planned to participate in Meaningful Use, only 30 percent of California providers with EMRs had a system that met all of the program’s 12 objectives, notes iHealthBeat.
What’s more, California hospitals’ use of clinical support systems fell from 77 percent in 2010 to 71 percent in 2012, a pretty low number given that the national average of 97 percent use of such tools. Also, the state ranks 49th in the country for e-prescribing rates.
The researchers also note that providers seem less interested in health IT than consumers. The 57 percent of state residents who had access to their EMRs used them to view their health records, e-mail physicians and schedule care appointments, iHealthBeat reported.
All told, the report comes as something of a surprise, given that over time, California has traditionally been at the leading edge of many healthcare industry trends. And it suggests that many California providers are missing out on increasingly well-documented opportunities to improve productivity. So let’s hope that traditionally cutting-edge providers take the nudge provided by this report seriously.
