AmericanEHR Partners and AMA release survey results showing EHRs fail to offer improvements on costs, efficiency or productivity
PHILADELPHIA, August 10, 2015 -- A new report from AmericanEHR Partners and the American Medical Association (AMA) based on a survey of physicians, shows that compared to five years ago, more physicians are reporting being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their EHR system. The survey on Physician Use of EHR Systems 2014 found that close to, or more than half of all respondents, reported a negative impact in response to questions about how their EHR system improved costs, efficiency or productivity.
AmericanEHR Partners provides comprehensive information to support clinicians in the selection and use of EHRs to improve health care delivery. It was founded by the American College of Physicians (ACP) and Cientis Technologies.
In a similar survey conducted by AmericanEHR five years ago the majority of respondents said that overall they were satisfied or very satisfied with their EHR system; with 39 percent being satisfied and 22 percent being very satisfied. In the current survey the majority of respondents indicated that overall they were dissatisfied with their EHR system; with only 22 percent indicating they were satisfied and 12 percent indicating they were very satisfied.
The questions on the impact of EHR systems on practice found that:
- 42 percent thought their EHR system's ability to improve efficiency was difficult or very difficult.
- 72 percent thought their EHR system's ability to decrease workload was difficult or very difficult.
- 54 percent found their EHR system increased their total operating costs.
- 43 percent said they had yet to overcome the productivity challenges related to their EHR system.
"While EHR systems have the promise of improving patient care and practice efficiency, we are not yet seeing those effects" said Shari Erickson, MPH, Vice President of ACP's Division of Governmental Affairs and Medical Practice. "We need to focus on figuring out how we can help physicians and practices to more effectively implement and use these systems."
The report found that primary care physicians were more likely than specialists to report satisfaction with various aspects of the EHR system and to indicate a positive impact on practice. The report suggested that the difference could be explained by the longer period of time, on average, that primary care physicians had used their EHR systems compared to specialists. Among survey respondents primary care physicians had used their EHR systems for a year longer than specialists, on average. They found that in most cases, it appeared to take at least three years for respondents to overcome initial challenges and to derive many of the benefits the their EHR system may have to offer.
"Perhaps we are getting over the curve in EHR adoption," continued Erickson. "It may be that as we see more practices that have been using these systems longer we will see satisfaction begin to rise."
For more information about the report, visit http://bit.ly/PhysicianUseofEHR2014.
About AmericanEHR Partners
AmericanEHR Partners is a free online resource designed to aid the
medical community with the selection, implementation, and effective
use of health information technology and electronic health records.
AmericanEHR Partners was founded by the American College of
Physicians and Cientis Technologies and is supported by 18 medical
societies and seven health IT organizations with a combined
membership of more than 720,000 clinicians, representing over 65
percent of physicians in the U.S. It does not endorse any
electronic health record vendor. For more information on
AmericanEHR Partners, visit www.americanehr.com.
About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest
medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician
group in the United States. ACP members include 143,000 internal
medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and
medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who
apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis,
treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum
from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter and Facebook.
About Cientis Technologies
Cientis Technologies is an international developer of online
communities, web-based tools and apps to assist clinicians and
their medical practice teams achieve optimal use of health care
information technologies (HIT). Cientis conducts syndicated
research to provide clinicians, health care consultants, policy
makers, pharma, technology professionals and consumers with key
insights surrounding health care technology adoption, satisfaction
and market share. For more information on Cientis, visit www.cientis.com.