Journal of health economics
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In February 2009 the U. S. Congress unexpectedly passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). ⋯ Absent HITECH incentives, we estimate that the adoption rate would have instead been 67 percent in 2011. When we consider that HITECH funds were available for all hospitals and not just marginal adopters, we estimate that the cost of generating an additional adoption was $48 million. We also estimate that in the absence of HITECH incentives, the 77 percent adoption rate would have been realized by 2013, just 2 years after the date achieved due to HITECH.