Last year, the AHA in conjunction with George Washington University conducted for the HHS Office ofthe NationalCoordinator (ONC) a survey designed to gather information on the state of adoption ofhealth information technology inAmerican hospitals. Building on the aforementioned baseline data that characterized activity in 2007, this currentproposal calls for the AHA to conduct a new survey measuring changes in the adoption ofhealth informationtechnology from the 2007 baseline period. For comparative purposes, the new survey instrument will be virtuallyidentical to the 2007 version. As with the 2007 survey, the new survey will be mailed to the chief executive officer inall U.S hospitals regardless of AHA membership status. A letter encoraging participation along with a reason whyparticipation is important will be signed by the AHA President. Hospitals wishing to participate will be able to do sovia the retum ofa mail-back survey form or through an on-line survey site. Returned data will be carefully screened foraccuracy. Hospitals that don't respond to the initial request to participate will be sent a second follow-up surveyrequest. Hospitals not responding to the first or second survey requests will be telephoned as a more direct way ofencouraging response. In the end, it is expected that the final response rate will be 50% or higher. It is expected that acomplete 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 thenations hospitals. It is expected that the universal use of an EHR will greatly improve health care deliveryand quality. Information technology as the way to a EHR will play a major role in various health care reformproposals that will be presented by the administration in the near term.
