EMR Adoption among Office Based Physicians and Practices: Impact of Peer-to-Peer Interactions, Peer Support and Online Forums

Recent government incentives as part of the Health Information Technology on Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act [1] for EMR adoption has improved the adoption rate of EMR across the country; however, there is still a lag in adoption of EMR among small to medium practices. The main reason cited so far is the insufficiency of the financial incentives and disagreement or lack of intention to meet the `meaningful use´ criteria set forth by the government as a return for receiving the incentives. Many studies have and still continue to focus on the economic aspect of technology adoption, which has led to a glaring gap in studies that focus on other socio-cultural aspects of technology adoption. This paper looks in to the impact of peer support and online forums for EMR adoption. Preliminary results support the study hypotheses and hold important implications for future research and practice.