Trending health information technology adoption among New York nursing homes

Federal policies are incentivizing hospitals and providers to adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records (EHRs). Nursing homes are not eligible for incentives. However, understanding health information technology (HIT) adoption among nursing homes will be critical to developing HIT policies for this sector. Our objective was to assess the pace of EHR adoption, changes in computerized function adoption, and participation in health information exchange by New York state nursing homes over time.

We used a repeated, cross-sectional study design.

We surveyed all New York state nursing homes between February and May 2013, comparing results to the same survey administered in 2012.

We received responses from 472 of 630 nursing homes (74.9%). Rates of EHR adoption increased from 48.6% to 56.3% (P = .03). Participation in health information exchange remained unchanged (54.5% to 55.3%, P = .8). The top barriers to EHR adoption cited were: a) the initial cost of HIT investment (67.9%, n = 133), b) lack of technical IT staff (46.4%, n = 91), and c) lack of fiscal incentives (45.8%, n = 88). Comparing nursing homes with EHRs in 2012 to nursing homes with EHRs in 2013, the availability of many types of computerized functionalities significantly increased, although no gains were seen for order entry or clinical tools.

While some gains are being made by nursing homes, HIT adoption generally lags behind that of other sectors. Public policy focusing on building HIT infrastructure is essential to ensure that nursing homes keep up with other healthcare segments.