Patient Health Information Shared Electronically by Office-based Physicians: United States, 2015.

This report expands upon previous research that described the percentage of physicians who electronically sent, received, integrated, and searched for patient health information (PHI) by describing types of PHI that are electronically shared in physician offices.

Employer-Sponsored Plan Expenditures for Infants Born Preterm.

BACKGROUND: Care for infants born preterm or with major birth defects is costly. Specific estimates of financial burden for different payers are lacking, in part because use of administrative data to identify preterm infants and costs is challenging. METHODS: We used private health insurance claims data and billing codes to identify live births during 2013 and calculated first-year expenditures for employer-sponsored health plans for infants born preterm, both overall and stratified by major birth defects. RESULTS: We conservatively estimated that 7.7% of insured infants born preterm accounted for 37% of $2.0 billion spent by participating plans on the care of infants born during 2013. With a mean difference in plan expenditures of ∼$47 100 per infant, preterm births cost the included plans an extra $600 million during the first year of life. Extrapolating to the national level, we projected aggregate employer-sponsored plan expenditures of $6 billion for infants born preterm during 2013. Infants with major birth defects accounted for 5.8% of preterm births but 24.5% of expenditures during infancy. By using an alternative algorithm to identify preterm infants, it was revealed that incremental expenditures were higher: $78 000 per preterm infant and $14 billion nationally. CONCLUSION: Preterm births (especially in conjunction with major birth defects) represent a substantial burden on payers, and efforts to mitigate this burden are needed. In addition, researchers need to conduct studies using linked vital records, birth defects surveillance, and administrative data to accurately and longitudinally assess per-infant costs attributable to preterm birth and the interaction of preterm birth with major birth defects.

State Variation in Electronic Sharing of Information in Physician Offices: United States, 2015.

KEY FINDINGS: Data from the National Electronic Health Records Survey •In 2015, the percentage of physicians who had electronically sent patient health information ranged from 19.4% in Idaho to 56.3% in Arizona. •In 2015, the percentage of physicians who had electronically received patient health information ranged from 23.6% in Louisiana and Mississippi to 65.5% in Wisconsin. •In 2015, the percentage of physicians who had electronically integrated patient health information from other providers ranged from 18.4% in Alaska to 49.3% in Delaware. •In 2015, the percentage of physicians who had electronically searched for patient health information ranged from 15.1% in the District of Columbia to 61.2% in Oregon. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provides financial incentives to eligible providers using a certified electronic health record (EHR) system (1,2). In 2015, 77.9% of office-based physicians had a certified EHR system, up from 74.1% in 2014 (3-5). A federal plan to enhance the nation's health information technology infrastructure was published in 2015 to support information sharing (6,7). Therefore, this report uses the 2015 National Electronic Health Records Survey (NEHRS) to describe the extent to which physicians can electronically send, receive, integrate, and search for patient health information.

Adoption of Certified Electronic Health Record Systems and Electronic Information Sharing in Physician Offices: United States, 2013 and 2014.

KEY FINDINGS: Data from the 2014 National Electronic Health Records Survey. In 2014, 74.1% of office-based physicians had a certified electronic health record (EHR) system, up from 67.5% in 2013. The percentage of physicians who had a certified EHR system ranged from 58.8% in Alaska to 88.6% in Minnesota. In 2014, 32.5% of office-based physicians with a certified EHR system were electronically sharing patient health information with external providers. The percentage of physicians with a certified EHR system electronically sharing patient health information with external providers ranged from 17.7% in New Jersey to 58.8% in North Dakota.