8 in 10 independent physician specialty practices have re-affirmed their confidence in specialty-driven EHRs & robust multispecialty EHRs with well-constructed specialty modules, according to a new report from Black Book Market Research. The report surveyed 11,300 specialist surgical and medical practices in Q1/Q2 2016 finds that specialists are increasing replacing their current EHRs with flexible cloud-based & specialty-driven EHRs tailored to improve financial, workflow, clinical outcomes & satisfaction.
Specialist workflow and productivity complications that left no time for physicians to customize their generic, multi-use EHR has been noted as the key driver for current EHR replacement changes by specialists. Current 2016 satisfaction and loyalty among specialty-driven EHRs has improved to 80% moderately-to-highly contented users with their replacement system.
“The finding is that specialty-driven, not necessary specialty-specific EHRs are on the fast track for specialist system replacements,” said Doug Brown, Managing Partner of Black Book in an official statement. “Notably, well-constructed multi-specialty EHRs with strong market presence have accommodated dozens of specialties through flexible functioning and incorporated plugins.”
Here are 8 key trends from the report’s key findings to know:
1. 85% of specialist physicians agree that first generation EHRs have not lived up to expectations, particularly dissatisfied with cost add-ons, affected workflows, and lost time with patients.
2. Improvements in web-based EHRs including implementations, updates, usability and customization have reversed overall EHR satisfaction in small practices from barely 13% meeting or exceed expectations in 2012, to 84% overall contented specialty-driven EHR users in Q2 2016.
3. 89% of specialists confessed to have scurried to implement their original system before incentive deadlines, and failed to fully vet their original EHR vendor.
4. 79% also state their meaningful use incentive payments did not offset capital and personnel costs associated with the EHR implementation.
5. 29% of specialists switched EHRs from their original implementations because they perceived limited market sized EHRs may lead to compromised growth and stability in their practices.
6. Lack of interoperability with other providers, particularly inpatient facilities, continues to be an apprehension for 88% of specialist physicians as many specialty-specific EHRs have not fit well within hospital-networked and regional public health information exchanges, rendering them unable to compete with the large multi-specialty EHRs.
7. The bigger issues of interoperability and population health outcomes, quality of care reporting and ICD-10 have framed the third generation EHR vendor, and the majority (77%) of small specialty practices plan to increase their investment in the advancements made by their current EHR vendor.
8. 48% of all specialty practices that switched EHRs between June 2014 and April 2016 report the financial burden of changing EHRs has put the practice in an unstable financial position. 66% of specialists changing systems report only reviewing cloud-based EHRs in 2016-2017 for the cost factors.
