The number of health care organizations reporting a functional electronic medical records (EMR) system declined slightly from 2004, from 19 to 18%. 62% of the hospital IT executives surveyed reported that EMRs are the top IT application priority for their organization over the next two years. That’s a huge increase from last year’s response, when only 10% of the executives reported that EMRs were a top near-term priority. Another 17% responded this year that their organizations have no immediate plans to implement EMRs.