Differences in electronic medical record implementation and use according to geographical location and organizational characteristics of US federally qualified health centers

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are at the forefront of the national health care agenda. This paper examines EMR implementation and usage based on data from the 2009 Commonwealth Fund National Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Chi-square analysis was used to examine differences in EMR implementation and usage. Logistic regression analysis was used to understand the adjusted associations between EMR implementation and usage. A significant finding of this study was that simple EMRs were implemented in more than half of FQHCs in the Northeast, Southern, and Western regions of the United States. However, EMRs in more than half of the FQHCs in the Southern and Western regions are not even utilized. These findings indicate the need to improve simple EMR usage and full EMR implementation in order to meet the requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by 2014, or else face a reduction in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.