Factors Influencing the Adoption and Implementation of the EMR among Health Care Providers at Homabay County Teaching and Referral Hospital

In Kenya, many public hospitals continue to use paper-based health records (PBHR), associated with several challenges. Adoption and implementation of the EMR are necessary for the advancement of the quality of patient care. Despite the efforts by the government to provide subsidies, there has been low uptake of the EMR by public facilities. Thus, the need to study the factors influencing the adoption and implementation of EMR among healthcare providers in HCTRH. The study focused on identifying the different EMRs available at HCTRH, identifying the areas of application of the EMR at HCTRH, determining the challenges associated with EMR compared to the PBHR, and determining the benefits of EMR at HCTRH. A cross-sectional study design was employed, with a sample of 38 healthcare providers using EMR. A structured questionnaire was the tool for data collection while analysis was done using Excel. There were 5 EMR systems available at HCTRH, Elephant, Funsoft, Kenya EMR, and Laboratory Information and Management Systems (LIMS). Areas of application included Clinical, ordering tests, imaging, drugs, and Health information exchange to 89%. Billing and administrative had 15.79% and 26.31% in use. Both technological and organizational factors contribute to challenges affecting the adoption and implementation of EMR. Regarding the lack of general infrastructure, 78.95% agreed with funding, and 57.89% of the respondents agreed. Other factors, power interference was reported at 63.16%. However, on the positive side, 60.53% of the respondents reported that the hardware and software available are compatible. 57.89% agreed that HCTRH lacks the technical personnel to install and maintain the EMR system. It was apparent that the factors affecting the adoption and implementation of EMR are mainly insufficient funds and a lack of general infrastructure. There is a need to increase the supply of infrastructure and budget allocation to address the technological and organizational factors at HCTRH