Physicians are continuing to adopt
electronic health records at a steady pace, but more work is needed to have
those systems communicate with each other. This is according to two studies
published Tuesday in Health Affairs
magazine.
The first study used data about EHR adoption from the National
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The sample size was 10,302 physicians with a
response rate of more than 89%. Researchers found that solo practitioners' EHR adoption
rate grew by more than 127% from 2010 to 2012, but that they were still half as
likely to have a basic EHRs as those in groups with 11 or more physicians. Specialists
were less likely than primary care physicians to have adopted basic EHRs in
2012, unchanged from 2 years prior. Finally, basic EHR adoption among
physicians 65 and older doubled between 2010 and 2012, but that age group was
still the least likely to have a basic EHR. The study defined a basic EHR as having seven capabilities including
recording patient history and clinical notes, viewing lab results and imaging
reports, and using computerized prescription ordering. Overall, the
study found that the number of EHR adopters was up from just over 25% in 2010.
The second report, also published online
in Health Affairs, focused on information exchange. Researchers found that 30% of hospitals and 10% of
ambulatory practices participated in one of 119 health information exchanges in
2012. These numbers were more than double the 2010 statistics. For this study,
researchers surveyed 322 organizations who could
potentially engage in a health information exchange. The exchanges promote
interoperability, or the ability of EHR systems to throw and catch patient data
between health systems or between hospitals and physician offices, or between
physician offices and labs or pharmacies.
Interoperability
within the industry remains a challenge for the healthcare industry, according
to the National Coordinator for Health IT at the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. A survey last year found 71% cited interoperability as a major
barrier to further EHR implementation.
You can view the
original article from MedpageToday here, with links to
both studies.
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