Forward march to Stage 1

“Hospitals continue to move forward to meet Stage 1 of meaningful use, especially in these categories highlighted in the report,” said John P. Hoyt, executive vice president, Organizational Services, for HIMSS. “We also found similar trends in hospitals reaching Stage 7, which is a totally paperless environment on the EMRAM.”

In addition, the overall data included in the December 2011 HIMSS Analytics report, the data also showed a 1 percent decrease from what was reported in September 2011, with a decrease from 10 percent to 9 percent in hospitals reporting the capability to meet all 14 core items of meaningful use, and at least five of the 10 menu measures, required to meet Stage 1.

The December 2011 data represents a new sample of the market, not an update of the data reported in September 2011. Yet, the growth reported in the seven hospital segments noted earlier signals the ongoing movement by hospitals to reach Stage 1.

The hospitals reporting in this survey also lag in maintaining or conducting a security risk analysis; although hospitals at a higher level of sophistication for health IT implementations are more likely to complete this analysis. Just 25 percent of hospitals answered “yes” to the following question: “Does your hospital protect electronic health information created or maintained by your EHR by conducting and reviewing a security risk analysis per 45 CFT 164.308 (a)(1) and implementing security updates as necessary and correcting identified security deficiencies as part of its risk management process.”
 
However, just more than 50 percent of academic medical centers, and hospitals at Stage 6 or Stage 7 on the EMRAM model, in the survey reported having this capability.

The report is the second in a quarterly series evaluating the readiness of U.S. hospitals to qualify for incentive payments. Subsequent reports will explore areas in which the industry has made significant progress.