Use of Electronic Health Information Technology in a National Sample of Hospitals That Provide Specialty Substance Use Care

What is it about?

There has not yet been an analysis to describe the adoption of basic electronic health records (EHRs) and electronic health information exchange (HIE) among specialty substance use disorder (SUD) treatment providers. We used a 2017 nationally representative dataset to estimate the adoption of basic EHR and electronic HIE in hospital-based SUD treatment programs. About 68% and 71% of hospital-based SUD programs reported using basic EHRs and electronic HIE, respectively. These rates are lower than overall adoption rates in general hospitals. These findings raise concerns about missed opportunities to improve hospital-based SUD care quality and safety, as well as performance measurement.

Featured Image