Evidence of an emerging digital divide among hospitals that care for the poor

Health Aff (Millwood). 2009 Nov-Dec;28(6):w1160-70. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.w1160. Epub 2009 Oct 26.

Abstract

Some hospitals that disproportionately care for poor patients are falling behind in adopting electronic health records (EHRs). Data from a national survey indicate early evidence of an emerging digital divide: U.S. hospitals that provide care to large numbers of poor patients also had minimal use of EHRs. These same hospitals lagged others in quality performance as well, but those with EHR systems seemed to have eliminated the quality gap. These findings suggest that adopting EHRs should be a major policy goal of health reform measures targeting hospitals that serve large populations of poor patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Diffusion of Innovation*
  • Health Services Accessibility / economics*
  • Hospital Information Systems
  • Hospitals / trends*
  • Humans
  • Medical Records Systems, Computerized / economics
  • Medical Records Systems, Computerized / statistics & numerical data*
  • Poverty*
  • United States