New Data for Researchers

Preliminary estimates of electronic medical record use by office-based physicians: 2008

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) recently released preliminary statistics describing the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) by office-based physicians. Data were obtained through a mail survey between April and August 2008 from a nationally representative sample of 2,000 physicians classified as providing direct patient care in office-based practices. This estimate will supplement information from the core 2008 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), an annual nationally-representative survey of patient visits to office-based physicians.

In the 2008 mail survey, approximately 38.4 percent of physicians reported using full or partial EMR systems, not including billings records, in their office-based practices. About 20.4 percent reported using a system described as minimally-functional and including the following features: orders for prescriptions, orders for tests, viewing laboratory or imaging results, and clinical notes. 

EMR systems that conform to certain interoperability standards have been defined as electronic health records (EHRs). Electronic health records in turn have been characterized as basic (patient demographics, problem lists, clinical notes, orders for prescription, and viewing laboratory and imaging results) or fully functional (patient demographics, problem lists, clinical notes, medical history and follow-up, orders for prescriptions, orders for tests, prescription orders sent electronically, viewing laboratory and imaging results, warnings of drug interactions or contraindications, out-of-range test levels, and reminders for guideline-based interventions). In the 2008 mail survey, 17.0 percent of the physicians reported having systems that have been defined as basic, and 4.0 percent reported having systems defined as fully functional.

For more information about these estimates, see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/physicians08/physicians08.htm

For further information about the 2008 mail survey of office-based physicians, please contact Chun-Ju (Janey) Hsiao, Janey.Hsiao@cdc.hhs.gov, NCHS.

To access micro-data from this survey, researchers must apply to the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Visit the RDC website at www.cdc.gov/nchs/r&d/rdc.htm for more information. 

 
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