I know you’re going to have trouble believing this, but many PCPs think EHRs need substantial changes.
Such is the unsurprising conclusion drawn by a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Stanford Medicine. The poll, which took place between March 2 and March 27 of this year, surveyed 521 PCPs licensed to practice in the U.S. who have been using their current EHR system for at least one month.
The physicians were recruited via snail mail from the American Medical Association Masterfile. Figures for years in practice by gender, region and primary medical specialty were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population of PCPs in the U.S.
According to the survey, about two-thirds of PCPs think EHRs have generally improved care (63%). Two-thirds said they were at least somewhat satisfied with their current systems, though only 18% were very satisfied.
Meanwhile, a total of 34% were somewhat or very dissatisfied with their system, and 40% of PCPs said that EHRs create more challenges than benefits. Also, 49% of office-based PCPs reported that using an EHR detracts from their clinical effectiveness. Forty-four percent of PCPs said that primary value of EHRs is data storage, while just 8% said that the biggest benefits were clinically-related.
To improve EHRs’ clinical value, it will take a lot of effort, with 51% saying they think EHRs need a complete overhaul. Seventy-two percent of PCPs said that improving user interfaces could best address their needs in the immediate future.
Meanwhile, 67% of respondents said that solving interoperability problems should be the top priority for EHR development over the next decade, and 43% reported wanting improved predictive analytics capabilities.
Nearly all (99%) of PCPs said that EHR capabilities should include maintaining a high-quality record of patient data over time, followed closely by providing an intuitive user experience. Also, 88% said that providing clinical decision support at the moment of care was important, followed by identifying high-risk patients in their patient panel (86%).
When asked what EHR features they found most satisfying, they cited maintaining a high-quality patient record (73%), offering patients access to medical records (71%), sharing information with providers across the care continuum (65%) and supporting practice/revenue cycle management needs (60%).
However, EHRs still have a long way to go in offering other preferred capabilities, including changing and adapting in response to user feedback, improving patient-provider interaction, coordinating care for patients with complex conditions and engaging patients in prescribed care plans through mobile technologies. Vendors, you have been warned.