About 40 percent of physicians are dissatisfied with electronic health record (EHR) design and interoperability, according to a survey conducted by the Physicians Foundation.
The nationwide survey provides insight on how physicians currently view their profession, the healthcare system and practice patterns. It was sent to about 88 percent of all practicing doctors in the United States, who returned 8,774 survey responses and 2,472 written comments.
“Because physicians remain the key drivers of healthcare quality, access and cost, we believe how they practice and how they view their own profession is of critical importance to health professionals, policy makers, media members and to the public,” the report said.
Physicians aren’t happy with the state of EHR design and interoperability—with 39.2 percent of physicians saying EHR design/interoperability is one of the least satisfying factors about medical practice.
“When EHRs are poorly designed or are not user friendly, the frustrations inherent to paperwork duties are magnified. The 2018 survey asked physicians to indicate how EHR has affected their practice in a variety of categories. The majority of physicians indicate EHR has had a negative effect in two key areas,” the report said.
When asked how EHRs affected their practice, 35.8 percent of physicians said they reduced/detracted from their quality of care. Fifty-six percent said EHRs reduced their efficiency and 65.7 percent said they detracted from their patient interactions.
On the other hand, 28.6 percent of doctors said EHRs improved their quality of care; 25.2 percent said they improved their efficiency and 7.9 percent said they improved their patient interactions.
However, many physicians were also indifferent about the impact of EHRs on their practice. According to the survey, 35.6 percent said EHRs had little to no impact on quality of care, 18.8 percent said they had little to no impact on their efficiency and 26.4 percent said they had little to no impact on patient interactions.
The report also revealed that 81.5 percent of physicians don’t practice a form of telemedicine. Of those who do use it, 73.8 percent said telemedicine patient encounters make up between 0 and 10 percent of their total encounters, while just 5.6 percent said it makes up 41 percent or more of their total encounters.
Danielle covers Clinical Innovation & Technology as a senior news writer for TriMed Media. Previously, she worked as a news reporter in northeast Missouri and earned a journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She's also a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears and Bulls.