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Surveys point to struggles in adoption of EHRs
Surveys are intended in part to give researchers a snapshot understanding of what is going on in a given part of society, or any single topic.
Sometimes, though, it seems more productive to consider more than one survey at once in the name of getting at potentially broader implications.
To wit, two surveys have been in the news recently. One comes from the California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF), which looked at the current use of EHRs by California physicians. The other is a recent poll conducted by KPMG LLP, an audit, tax and advisory services firm.
The CHCF survey found, among other things:
• Although 71% of physicians surveyed have an EHR system, only 30% have EHRs configured to meet all 12 of the meaningful use objectives measured in the study.
• Rates of EHR availability are lowest among physician solo practitioners, small partnerships, and community/public clinics. Office-based physicians are less likely to have EHRs than those in hospitals, and rural physicians are less likely to have them than urban physicians.
• Most physicians who, based on their survey responses, are eligible for incentive payments (70%) do not currently have EHRs that can meet all 12 of the meaningful use objectives measured.
Meanwhile, the KPMG poll found that “while almost half of business administrators at hospitals or health systems say they are more than half way to completing full electronic health record (EHR) system deployment, many have doubts about the level of funding their organizations have planned to support it.”
As Gary Anthony, principal with KPMG Healthcare, summed it up, "In most organizations, EHR deployment will most likely be one of the most transformational projects that they've ever undertaken, as well as one of the largest investments outside of the construction of a new hospital they've ever made. Yet, many organizations view EHR as just an IT project and that may be why we are seeing multiple extensions to scope, timeline and budget."
While there is most likely little or no overlap between the two survey populations, let’s assume for the sake of discussion that their experiences are not really that different.
One question to ponder, then, is “If only 30% of a group of physicians is ready to meet MU, and half of those aren’t confident about getting sustained funding, what are the long-term implications for the health IT transition?”
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