Adoption Rate of a Certified EHR at Medical Practices with Five or Fewer Physicians

The adoption rate of a certified electronic health record (EHR) for small medical practices have been the subject of discussion because prior research shows that larger medical practices have a higher rate of adoption than small medical practices. The major reason for this disparity has been the cost of adoption and implementation as many small practices are not financially equipped to shoulder this burden. The purpose of this research was to determine the adoption rate of a certified EHR for medical practices with five or fewer physicians. Through a google search and filtering the results of the search, the office managers of 20 medical practices in the Metro Atlanta Area (state of Georgia) were interviewed in-person or by phone to assess the certified EHR adoption rate, meaningful use (MU) utilization rate and challenges encounter with implementation. The results showed that the adoption rate of a certified EHR system was 90% among small medical practices with five or fewer physicians and the MU utilization was at 72%. These results showed that despite the challenges that small medical practices face, the majority of them are complying with government mandates in the effort to advance technology in healthcare