This report assesses the availability of health information technology applications that are preconditions for meaningful use in CAHs, compared to other U.S. hospitals in 2008.

Key Findings:

• Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) are significantly less likely than other US hospitals to have adopted several key applications that are preconditions for “meaningful use” of health information technology.
• The most frequently adopted technology applications in CAHs are order communication systems, which have been adopted by almost two-thirds of CAHs, and radiology picture archiving communication systems (PACS), which have been adopted by over half of CAHs.
• Fewer than 14% of CAHs have an electronic medical record (EMR) with a clinical data repository and some clinical decision support capability.
• Fewer than three percent of CAHs have an EMR with Computerized Prescriber Order Entry (CPOE) and an electronic medication administration record (eMAR).