NEW ORLEANS – Frustrated with your electronic medical record system? Getting increasingly irritated? You most definitely are not alone.
A survey of thousands of physicians across multiple specialties shows that user satisfaction with electronic health records fell 12% from 2010 to 2012.
Dr. Michael Barr
The survey was conducted by the American College of Physicians and AmericanEHR Partners, an online agent that helps physicians select and evaluate health information technology. It is supported by 16 medical societies and five health IT organizations.
"Dissatisfaction is increasing regardless of practice type or EHR system," said Dr. Michael S. Barr, who leads ACP\'s Medical Practice, Professionalism & Quality division. "These findings highlight the need for the Meaningful Use program and EHR manufacturers to focus on improving EHR features and usability to help reduce inefficient work flows, improve error rates and patient care, and for practices to recognize the importance of ongoing training at all stages of EHR adoption," said Dr. Barr, in a statement issued along with the survey results.
The survey was released at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Annual Conference and exhibition.
Dr. Alan Brookstone, a cofounder of AmericanEHR Partners, said at the meeting that satisfaction rates may be dropping in part because there had been so much adoption of technology so quickly. Also, it’s not just the early adopters anymore, he said.
The largest number of respondents – almost 1,900 – was from primary care. Specialists, surgeons, hospital-based physicians, and psychiatrists were also represented.
The vast majority of respondents – 70% – were from practices with fewer than 10 physicians.
The number who said they intended to participate in meaningful use has grown over the past few years, with a full 82% saying they would apply for incentives paid by Medicare and Medicaid.
Satisfaction rates with current EHR systems were low across a spectrum of parameters. While 45% said they would recommend the product they use to a colleague, 39% said they would not. In 2010, more physicians said they’d recommend that system, while only 24% said they would urge against use.
Of those surveyed, 36% said that they had encountered unexpected events, problems, or costs after signing the initial contract for the system.
Physicians were especially frustrated with the systems’ promise to decrease their workload. Thirty-four percent said they were dissatisfied with that promised ability, up from only 19% in 2010. Some respondents said that the EHR had decreased productivity and increased the amount of time needed to complete documentation. Fully a third of respondents said they had not returned to the productivity they had before they began to use the system.
About half of respondents were satisfied with functionality and ease of use, but a third were dissatisfied with those measures. That level of dissatisfaction was higher than it had been in 2010.
For instance, thirty-six percent said that it was difficult to reconcile an imported medication list with medications listed in a patient record.
Overall, when compared with other specialties, primary care physicians were the most satisfied with their system’s ability to improve patient care. Surgeons, representing about 660 respondents, were the least satisfied.
Good customer support and training for the EHR systems was rated as crucial to satisfaction. There was an 11% increase in dissatisfaction with customer support from 2010 to 2012. Thirty-three percent of respondents said they weren’t happy with the customer support they received.
The number of practices using a patient portal increased by 20% from 2010 to 2012, rising to 40%. This is probably driven by the stage 2 meaningful use rules, which require physicians to be able to securely communicate with patients and for patients to be able to download and share their health information. Still, 50% of respondents did not have a portal.
Dr. Brookstone said they survey showed that vendors needed to better integrate functionality, improve training, and find ways to help physicians rebalance their workload.
If physicians’ concerns aren’t addressed, it will lead to a decline in willingness to use the systems, he said.