Hospital implementation of computerized provider order entry systems: results from the 2003 leapfrog group quality and safety survey.

A critical element of The Leapfrog Group's strategy for advancing improvements in healthcare is its ongoing survey of hospital patient safety and quality improvement activities, including computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. This survey is distinct from other surveys of CPOE adoption because individual hospital responses are publicly disseminated. Furthermore, this survey offers an opportunity to explore the drivers of hospital CPOE adoption before financial incentives for patient safety proliferate, as well as an opportunity to compare the characteristics of participating and non-participating hospitals. Results from the 2003 survey show that only 3.7 percent of the 842 participating hospitals located in The Leapfrog Group's targeted regions had fully implemented a CPOE system consistent with the Leapfrog standard, although 92 percent reported at least planned or partial implementation of a CPOE system. While prior research suggests that a hospital's financial condition should be positively correlated with decisions to invest in CPOE, the analysis generally failed to detect such a relationship.