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The Relationship Between Local Hospital IT Capabilities and Physician EMR Adoption

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Abstract

In light of new federal policies allowing hospitals to subsidize the cost of information systems for physicians, we examine the relationship between local hospital investments in information technology (IT) and physician EMR adoption. Data from two Florida surveys were combined with secondary data from the State of Florida and the Area Resource File (ARF). Hierarchal logistic regression was used to examine the effect of hospital adoption of clinical information systems on physician adoption of EMR systems after controlling for confounders. In multivariate analysis, each additional clinical IT application adopted by a local hospital was associated with an 8% increase in the odds of EMR adoption by physicians practicing in that county. Given this existing relationship between hospital IT capabilities and physician adoption patterns, federal policies designed to encourage this more directly will positively promote the proliferation of EMR systems.

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Acknowledgements

The hospital data for this study was collected in part by funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield Center for Rural Health Policy at the Florida State University College of Medicine. Physician data on EMR adoption was funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), United States Department of Health and Human Services, Under Contract Number 500-02 FL02. No funding agency played any role in the study design, data collection, analyses, or interpretation of the data. The funding agency had no role in the preparation or submission of this manuscript. Thus, the ideas presented herein are solely those of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, UAB School of Public Health, Ryals #330, 1530 3rd Ave. South, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0022, USA

    Nir Menachemi

  2. College of Business Administration, Winthrop University, Rockhill, SC, USA

    Michael Matthews

  3. Center for Health Innovation, Education & Research, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Eric W. Ford

  4. College of Business Administration, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA, USA

    Neset Hikmet

  5. Family Medicine and Rural Health, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Robert G. Brooks

Authors
  1. Nir Menachemi
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  2. Michael Matthews
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  3. Eric W. Ford
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  4. Neset Hikmet
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  5. Robert G. Brooks
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nir Menachemi.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Clinical information technologies potentially available in hospitals
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Menachemi, N., Matthews, M., Ford, E.W. et al. The Relationship Between Local Hospital IT Capabilities and Physician EMR Adoption. J Med Syst 33, 329 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-008-9194-0

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