Electronic exchange of patient data increasing but non-electronic methods persist

PARCA eNews – Feb. 21, 2021 –The decade-long effort to increase interoperable exchange of electronic health information seems to be paying off, according to the latest report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
The report shows 70 percent of non-governmental hospitals reported integrating data into their electronic health records in 2019, which represents a 15 percent increase over 2018. There is still a long way to go before all health records can be exchanged electronically.

The report highlights show that the proportions of hospitals that used a national network to find or query patient health information increased by nearly 40 percent, and that 75 percent of hospitals reported electronically finding patient data outside their own health systems, but a majority of hospitals still use a mix of electronic and non-electronics methods to exchange summary of care records.

Around 70 percent of hospitals still use postal mail, Fax and eFax to exchange some patient information.

You can read the full report on the ONC website.