The Use of Health Information Technology in Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Many of the more than 1.2 billion ambulatory care visits in the United States in 2011 resulted in a patient being handed-off from one outpatient provider to another. As patients transition from one outpatient provider to another, information gaps present a challenge to safe, continuous, and efficient patient care [1]. Among the most common outpatient transitions are those between referring physicians and ambulatory surgery centers (ASC). The use of Health Information Technology (HIT) is imperative to timely and excellent patient care. Despite the projected benefits of HIT and the frequency of physician hand-offs to ASCs, it has not been at all clear how, or even if, HIT is used internally by ASCs, or if it is used during patient transitions to and from ASCs. We conclude that ASCs in this study have low usage of HIT, both within their Centers and between outpatient settings.