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Health Information Technology Adoption in U.S. Acute Care Hospitals

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Abstract

Previous studies show that the healthcare industry lags behind many other economic sectors in the adoption of information technology. The purpose of this study is to understand differences in structural characteristics between providers that do and that do not adopt Health Information Technology (HIT) applications. Publicly available secondary data were used from three sources: American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) analytics annual survey, and Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) databases. Fifty-two information technologies were grouped into three clusters: clinical, administrative, and strategic decision making ITs. Negative binomial regression was applied with adoption of technology as the dependent variables and eight organizational and contextual factors as the independent variables. Hospitals adopt a relatively larger proportion of administrative information technology as compared to clinical and strategic IT. Large size, urban location and HMO penetration were found to be the most influential hospital characteristics that positively affect information technology adoption. There are still considerable variations in the adoption of information technology across hospitals and in the type of technology adopted. Organizational factors appear to be more influential than market factors when it comes to information technology adoption. The future research may examine whether the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program in 2011 would increase the information technology uses in hospitals as it provides financial incentives for HER adoptions and uses among providers.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Doctoral Program in Public Affairs and Department of Health Management and Informatics, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Ning Jackie Zhang

  2. UnitedHealth Group, 48 Monore Turnpike, Trumbull, CT, 06611, USA

    Binyam Seblega

  3. Doctoral Program in Public Affairs, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Thomas Wan & Li Miao

  4. Department of Health and Public Affairs, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Lynn Unruh

  5. HealthCore, 800 Delaware Avenue, Wilmington, DE, 19801, USA

    Abiy Agiro

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  1. Ning Jackie Zhang
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  2. Binyam Seblega
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Correspondence to Ning Jackie Zhang.

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Zhang, N.J., Seblega, B., Wan, T. et al. Health Information Technology Adoption in U.S. Acute Care Hospitals. J Med Syst 37, 9907 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-012-9907-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-012-9907-2

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