A survey recently released by research firm SK&A, a Cegedim Company, shows an increase in physician adoption of EHRs, confirming earlier findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

The increase from 32.9 percent in February 2009 to 36.1 percent in physician offices in the U.S. is considered "conservative" by David Kibbe, MD, senior adviser, American Academy of Family Physicians, given that researchers did not differentiate between basic and fully functional systems or include electronic billing systems. The survey also defined EHRs as any software or technology that enabled electronic notes, electronic prescribing and viewing of lab results and other images.

How big is this 3.2 percent increase? It depends on which camp you support. According to CDC’s survey, 43.9 percent are using full or partial EHR systems. More than half of physicians still haven't implemented EHRs, according to both surveys.

Let's take a look at other reports. Earlier in February, Piper Jaffrey analyst Sean Wieland wrote about the growing trend of hospitals buying or subsidizing EHRs for physician practices.

If you're David Blumenthal, MD, head of ONC, the year-over-year increase is significant. In a Jan. 28 blog, he looked at the last three years of CDC's statistics for physicians who reported having either a basic or fully functional EHR: 17 percent in 2007, 21 percent in 2008 and 27 percent in 2009. Consider that it's a 10 percent increase in two years.

Only 4 percent of U.S. physicians have a fully functional electronic health records system and 13 percent have a basic one, according to a study in the June 19, 2008, online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Back then, Blumenthal, who was at the time director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the study, called the results troubling and physician adoption slow.

The numbers vary somewhat, but there's no denying that no matter what study or survey you look at the numbers are growing. It's encouraging. It will be even more encouraging if the trend continues and the yearly growth can hit double digits. Is it possible? The momentum is there, thanks in part to ARRA and the EHR and EMR advocates who came before and after ARRA and continue to champion the technology. If we can quantify the value in 2011, we’ll certainly see a spike physician adoption.