Health IT Research & Analysis
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Hospital Progress to Meaningful Use

Last Updated

June 2021

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Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT analysis of data from the 2012 American Hospital Association Annual Survey.

As of 2016, over 95% of hospitals eligible for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program have achieved meaningful use of certified health IT. When parsed by hospital bed size, the majority of hospitals within each hospital type are meaningfully using certified health IT. More than 90 percent of large, medium, small rural, and critical access hospitals were meaningfully using certified health IT, and more than 4 in 5 of small urban hospitals were meaningfully using certified technology. Children’s hospitals have the lowest rate of meaningful use achievement, with over 3 in 4 children’s hospitals having achieved meaningful use. Nearly 90 percent of all hospitals have demonstrated stage 2 of of the program.

Progress to Meaningful Use Milestone

Hospital Type (% of All Eligible Hospitals) Attested to Stage 2 Meaningful UseAttested to Stage 1 Meaningful Use Received Adopt, Implement, Upgrade Incentive Registered for EHR Incentive ProgramNot Participating
Large (11%)95%4%<1%<1%<1%
Medium (36%)90%8%1%<1%<1%
Small Rural (11%)86%12%<1%<1%1%
Critical Access Hospitals (28%)78%18%<1%1%2%
Small Urban (12%)72%12%2%2%13%
Childrens (2%)0%78%14%3%5%
  1. Categories are hierarchical and mutually exclusive (e.g., a hospital that has attested to Stage 1 Meaningful Use and has received adopt/implement/upgrade payment is counted only once in the attested category).
  2. Large = 400+ staffed beds; Medium = 100-399 staffed beds; Small = 1-99 staffed beds. Rural = non-metropolitan; Urban = metropolitan.
  3. Critical Access hospitals and Children’s hospitals are not included in the other size and area classifications.