Last year, the AHA in conjunction with George Washington University conducted for the HHS Office ofthe National Coordinator (ONC) a survey designed to gather information on the state of adoption ofhealth information technology in American hospitals. Building on the aforementioned baseline data that characterized activity in 2007, this current proposal calls for the AHA to conduct a new survey measuring changes in the adoption ofhealth information technology from the 2007 baseline period. For comparative purposes, the new survey instrument will be virtually identical to the 2007 version. As with the 2007 survey, the new survey will be mailed to the chief executive officer in all U.S hospitals regardless of AHA membership status. A letter encoraging participation along with a reason why participation is important will be signed by the AHA President. Hospitals wishing to participate will be able to do so via the retum ofa mail-back survey form or through an on-line survey site. Returned data will be carefully screened for accuracy. Hospitals that don't respond to the initial request to participate will be sent a second follow-up survey request. Hospitals not responding to the first or second survey requests will be telephoned as a more direct way of encouraging response. In the end, it is expected that the final response rate will be 50% or higher. It is expected that a complete set of final data will be ready for analysis around October 1, 2009.
A significant part of the information technology survey is about the establishment of a EHR across the nations hospitals. It is expected that the universal use of an EHR will greatly improve health care delivery and quality. Information technology as the way to a EHR will play a major role in various health care reform proposals that will be presented by the administration in the near term.
