Rate of electronic health record adoption in South Korea: A nation-wide survey

Highlights • We aimed to evaluate the rate of adoption of EHR systems in South Korea in 2015 and to compare the findings with equivalent South Korean data from 2010, as well as with US data from 2010 and 2014. For the comparison, we used the same or equivalent questionnaires developed by Jha et al. at each data point. • In this study, 11.6% of South Korean tertiary teaching and general hospitals had a comprehensive EHR, and 46.5% had a basic EHR, in 2015. • The EHR adoption rate in Korean hospitals (37.2%) was higher than that in US hospitals in 2010 (15.1%), but this trend was reversed in 2015 (58.1% vs. 75.2%) after financial support was provided to US hospitals after the HITECH Act was passed. • A clinical decision support system (CDSS) was the most frequently missing function required to meet the criteria for a comprehensive EHR in hospitals with a basic EHR system. • The major barriers to adoption of EHR system were economic problems: the capital cost was the most frequent barrier to EHR adoption (48%), followed by concerns regarding the ongoing cost of maintenance (11%).