Electronic Health Record Adoption

Abstract

Most prior research concerning electronic health record adoption was conducted in many parts of the United States, including New York, Massachusetts, California, Texas, Washington, and the country in an aggregate. However, none of the research studies was focused on the Central Valley California Region. Little attention has been paid to the challenges for ambulatory physician practices in implementing such a complex system. This is significant because these practices serve a large proportion of the population and failure to address this issue could lead to an increase in the disparity in access to healthcare. The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges faced by these small physician practices in the Central Valley California Region in implementing the electronic health record. The research question sought to understand these challenges in order to encourage implementation of the electronic health record. A qualitative, non-experimental, exploratory, single-case study was conducted using the conceptual framework of diffusion of innovation theory Data were collected by conducting interviews. Data were analyzed for commonalities and grouped into themes. Findings were eight common themes that emerged as the challenges encountered by ambulatory care practitioners in the Central Valley California Region during implementation of an electronic health record system. As more small physician practices integrate into the electronic health record system, the implications for social change are that the quality of healthcare may increase.