The number of hospitals in the U.S. using healthcare IT has more than doubled over the past two years, according to an announcement made last week by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Sebelius reported details of a survey, sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and conducted by the American Hospital Association, which found that the percentage of hospitals using electronic health records increased from 16% in 2009 to 35% in 2011.
Eighty-five percent of survey respondents reported that they intend to be eligible for meaningful use incentive payments from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by 2015.
Sebelius also announced that CMS has now paid $3.1 billion in federal incentive payments to nearly 2,000 hospitals and more than 41,000 physicians.
