Hospitals significantly increased their adoption of key patient engagement functionalities between 2012 and 2015. There was a seven-fold increase in the percent of hospitals that provided patients with the capability to electronically view, download, and transmit their health information from 2013 to 2015.
Small hospitals need to adopt more health IT infrastructure.
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The tremendous growth in hospitals’ adoption of view, download, and transmit capabilities in a relatively short period of time points to the potential impact of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, and specifically to the measures related to view, download, and transmit that were required for Stage 2 of the program. In 2015, almost all hospitals (95%) offered patients the ability to electronically view their health information. Almost 9 in 10 hospitals enabled patients to download their health information. A lower percentage of hospitals–about 7 in 10–offered patients the ability to electronically transmit their health information.
However, this capability also grew significantly between 2014 and 2015. The potential impact of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs is also demonstrated through significant increases in hospitals’ adoption of other program requirements; such as the ability of patients to electronically send or receive secure messages from their health care provider.
There is evidence of both growth and variation in hospital adoption of view, download, and transmit capabilities. In 2013, no states had 40% or more of their hospitals with these three electronic capabilities; whereas by 2015, all states had 40% or more of their hospitals with these three capabilities. Hospitals’ adoption of view, download, and transmit capabilities varies by type of hospital. Large hospitals provide view, download, and transmit capabilities to patients at higher rates compared to CAHs and medium to small size hospitals. Almost 8 in 10 large hospitals have all 3 capabilities while only about 6 in 10 CAHs have all 3 capabilities.
