QuickStats: Percentage of Physicians Who Have Electronic Access to Patient Health Information from Outside Their Medical Practice,*,† by State — United States, 2015

Weekly / September 2, 2016 / 65(34);922

The figure above is a map of the United States showing that in 2015, approximately half (50.3%) of the physicians in the United States had information from other providers outside of their practice electronically available at the point of care. There was wide variation by state, ranging from 34.6% in Idaho to 76.4% in South Dakota. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia were in the range with the lowest percentage of physicians with electronic access to more comprehensive patient information (34.6%–47.2%). Another 16 states were in the middle range (47.3%–57.0%). The 18 states with the highest percentage of physicians having such information electronically available were in the top range (57.1%– 76.4%).

* Physicians were defined as having patient health information electronically available at the point of care if they answered “often,” “sometimes,” or “rarely” to the question, “When treating patients seen by other providers outside your medical organization, how often do you or your staff have clinical information from those outside encounters electronically available at the point of care? Electronically available does not include scanned or PDF documents.” Overall, 50.3% of U.S. physicians reported having this type of electronic health information exchange.

† A sample survey of office-based physicians.

Top

In 2015, approximately half (50.3%) of the physicians in the United States had information from other providers outside of their practice electronically available at the point of care. There was wide variation by state, ranging from 34.6% in Idaho to 76.4% in South Dakota. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia were in the range with the lowest percentage of physicians with electronic access to more comprehensive patient information (34.6%–47.2%). Another 16 states were in the middle range (47.3%–57.0%). The 18 states with the highest percentage of physicians having such information electronically available were in the top range (57.1%– 76.4%).

Top

Source: National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS), 2015. Survey data available through the NCHS Research Data Center at http://www. cdc.gov/rdc/leftbrch/whatnew.htm.

Reported by: Eric W Jamoom, PhD, ejamoom@cdc.gov, 301-458-4798; Ninee Yang, PhD.

Top

Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Physicians Who Have Electronic Access to Patient Health Information from Outside Their Medical Practice,† by State — United States, 2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:922. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6534a7 .