Int J Emerg Med (2010) 3:181–185 DOI 10.1007/s12245-010-0170-3 BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT Health information technology in US emergency departments Daniel J. Pallin & Ashley F. Sullivan & Rainu Kaushal & Carlos A. Camargo Jr. Received: 7 December 2009 / Accepted: 10 February 2010 / Published online: 1 April 2010 # Springer-Verlag London Ltd 2010 Abstract Background Information technology may improve patient safety, and is a focus of health care reform. A minority of emergency departments (EDs) in Massachusetts, and in academic EDs throughout the US, have electronic health records. Aims Assess health information technology adoption in a nationwide sample of EDs. Methods We surveyed 69 US EDs, asking site investigators about the availability of health information technology in 2005–2006. Using multiple linear regression, we compared adoption of technology by ED type (emergency medicine Funding This project was supported by grant no. 5 R01 HS013099 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Rockville, MD). D. J. Pallin (*) Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115, USA e-mail: dpallin@partners.org D. J. Pallin Division of Emergency Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA A. F. Sullivan : C. A. Camargo Jr. Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA C. A. Camargo Jr. Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA R. Kaushal Departments of Pediatrics, Medicine and Public Health, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA residency affiliation, annual census, US region) to assess generalizability of the findings. Results Sixty-eight EDs (99%) provided information about health information technology; 75% were affiliated with an emergency medicine residency, and all were urban. Most respondents had applications that simply relay information from one place to another, including patient tracking (74%); ordering tests (laboratory 57%, others 62%); and displaying prior visit notes (79%), ECGs (92%), laboratory (97%), and radiology (99%) results. A minority had more-advanced applications, which seek to modify human behavior, including medication ordering (38%), allergy warnings (19%), and medication cross- reaction warnings (13%), and a few used bar coding (20%). There were no significant differences in technol- ogy adoption by ED type. Conclusions This and prior studies suggest that some applications—particularly those relevant to modifying clinician behavior—are not widespread in US EDs, while others are. The reasons for this are unknown, but might include expense and unintended consequences. The fact that the emergency medicine community has not rushed to adopt certain applications presents challenges and opportunities. Keywords Information technology . Electronic health records . Emergency department . Patient safety Introduction Health information technology has the potential to improve health care. In early 2009, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act allocated $19 billion for health information technology funding, and Medicare and Medicaid offer