While nearly all U.S. hospitals, including Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), now utilize Electronic Health Records (EHRs), concerns remain that CAHs are not able to fully utilize EHR technology for more advanced functions, particularly in clinical data analytics and interoperability. This project uses national survey data of nearly 700 CAHs to understand their EHR capabilities and organizational characteristics, such as system affiliation, that help explain variation in information sharing for CAHs.

A companion brief for this project, CAH Staff Perspectives on Use of EHRs for Quality Measure Activities, reports findings from interviews with eight CAHs about how they use their EHRs for quality measures including facilitators and challenges.