EHR Adoption Tripled Since 2010, Report Shows

Ongoing debate around EHR's cost savings potential hasn't kept hospitals from adopting the technology at a rapid rate, according to a new report co-authored by Mathematica Policy Research and Harvard School of Public Health.

In 2012, 44 percent of hospitals reported having a basic EHR — up 17 percent from 2011. Since 2010, the proportion of hospitals with basic EHR systems has tripled.

Providers are also using HIT tools in greater numbers now, with 42 percent of hospitals reporting that they met the stage one standards for Meaningful Use criteria, a big leap from just 4.4 percent in 2010.

Michael Painter, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is confident that by next year's report, over 50 percent of hospitals will be meeting stage one meaningful use criteria, at the very least.