Slide Presentation of the 2007 Annual Meeting of AHRQ

$ HIT Initial & Ongoing Costs is Barrier for Rural Hospitals

Perceptions Regarding Significant Barriers to Health IT

Percent Saying Item was a Significant Barrier:

Lack of $ for Initial Investment: 50.6
Lack of $ for Ongoing Support: 40.4
Hard to Compute ROI: 17.8
Lack of Data Standards: 16.1
Lack of Well-Trained IT Staff: 15.4
Interoperability w/Legacy Systems: 15.0
Hard to Find Product Meeting Needs: 11.7
End User Support Lacking: 11.6
Clinical Leadership Support Lacking: 9.1
IT Strategic Plan Lacking: 8.7
Hard to Select Vendors: 8.2
Loss of Productivity Initially: 7.5
Legal/Regulatory Issues: 6.4
Security/Privacy Issues: 6.2
Board Support Lacking: 4.6
Connectivity Inadequate: 4.3
Hard to Assess Needs: 2.9

Source: Schoenman, J.A. (2007). Small, stand-alone, and struggling: The adoption of health information technology by rural hospitals. (Working Paper #2007-02). Bethesda, MD: Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, p. 20.