Physician IT adoption varies by specialty

While practice size and setting still have the biggest influence on medical groups' adoption of clinical IT, there are marked differences between specialties as well, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The study, which asked physicians about their access to IT for five core EMR functions, found that only 12 percent of physicians of any specialty studied were likely to have access to what the Center deems a fully-functional EMR. Surgeons were well behind medical specialists in adopting such functions. Meanwhile, differences between medical specialties were even greater, researchers found. For example, psychiatrists and ophthalmologists were far less likely than other specialists surveyed to have access to all five of the core functions. Oncologists, for their part, were the most likely to have adopted all of the functions.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Center for Studying Health System Change summary

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