Adoption of Health IT Varies Widely, Depending on Specialty

Adoption of health information technology varies significantly among physicians in different specialties, according to a new study from the Center for Studying Health System Change.

Only 12% of physicians overall have adopted comprehensive electronic medical records, but physician uptake of specific health IT functions, such as obtaining guidelines or writing prescriptions, varies depending on specialty. For example, 74% of emergency physicians have health IT systems that can access patient notes, compared with just 36% of psychiatrists.

The findings are based on the Health System Change (HSC) 2004–2005 Community Tracking Study Physician Survey, a nationally representative telephone poll that included responses from 6,628 physicians.

As part of the survey, physicians were asked about practice-based availability of information technology across several clinical areas, including–retrieving patient notes or problem lists; writing prescriptions; exchanging clinical data and images with other physicians; and exchanging clinical data and images with hospitals.

The full report is available at www.hschange.com/CONTENT/945.