Smaller Rural Hospitals Face Unique Health IT Challenges, Report Finds

The following is taken from an article from iHealthBeat:

Although most small rural hospitals are eager to adopt health IT tools, many have encountered difficulty in procuring products that suit their particular needs, according to a new report from research firm KLAS, Healthcare IT News reports.

The report, titled "Closing the IT Gap: Critical Access to 50 Bed Hospitals," incorporates feedback from more than 300 health care providers at hospitals with 50 or fewer beds.

The report found that most critical access facilities were eager for greater health IT system functionality, particularly in areas such as computerized physician order entry.

Of the surveyed facilities, only 21 have active CPOE systems, the report found.

The report identified CPSI, Healthland and HMS as the three vendors with the greatest market share for critical access hospitals.

Although Healthland received the highest performance rating, only 55% of customers reported satisfaction with Healthland's electronic health record system, said Paul Pitcher, KLAS research director and author of the report.

Pitcher added that only about 50% of physician comments were positive for the functionality and upgrade capabilities of the EHR products. He said these ratings suggest "significant gaps with the current offerings."

The report also noted that small rural hospitals will face the same deadlines for complying with federal "meaningful use" standards, despite a lack of adequate health IT systems for such facilities (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 8/3).