A survey conducted by market research firm division GfK Roper reveals that EHR usage is growing in the primary care physician and specialist groups. Of the 1,000 adults polled, 48.4 percent reported that their PCP or specialist documented their last visit electronically in the exam room. Within this group, 45.2 percent noted that their physician switched from paper to electronic in the last two years, while 14.3 percent indicated that the switch was done in the last six months. Is this trend – if it is a trend – a result of ARRA?
I’m sure ARRA has a hand at play, but I’m not sure it’s the sole reason. Nearly half of the 4.8.4 respondents who reported a switch said that it occurred in the last two years. ARRA is a year old. It’s very likely that this group of physicians and specialists were already on that adoption path. Such was the case with my physician office. The independently owned office was acquired maybe four or five years ago by a large Northern California medical group, which had EHRs in its existing practices.
As for the physicians and specialists who converted in the last six months, it’s also hard to tell. If the size of the group or office is large, the process could have started well before ARRA was being laid out, given the resources and time needed to conduct due diligence and workflow issues. Actually, come to think of it, size may not matter in this case. My physician office was told it had to convert; I’m not sure, however, what timeframe or deadline it was given to do so.
Regardless of the driver, the movement is inching forward.
The other interesting data point from the survey, which was conducted for Practice Fusion, provider of a free, Web-based EHR system, is the respondent split on whether they liked having digital patient records. While slightly more, 38.4 percent, want EHRs, 32.7 percent did not and 28.9 percent were unsure. What does this say? Not sure. One question that would have been insightful for the survey tool would have been: Did your physician or specialist educate you on the benefits and challenges of EHRs? Size would likely matter in this area. Smaller offices may not have had the resources to do a mailing, although maybe patients had a one-on-one conversation with their provider. I got a nicely printed tri-fold from my physician office, explaining the switch and why it was a good thing. If I had questions, there was a place for me to go. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me in terms of whether I was in favor of EHRs or not; I know more than the average patient about EHRs. But it was a good public relations educational piece. I also had a lengthy conversation about it with my nurse practitioner after she introduced me to the switch. The lengthy conversation ensued because I write about the subject, but she did give an introduction. Whatever strategy is taken, you need a good educational component for patients.
The survey should be done every six months. More questions should be added: What kind of education on the switch to EHRs did your physician or specialist group conduct? Was the education piece done before or after the EHR went live? It will be interesting to see if those patient preferences tip one way or the other. Overall, I thought it was a useful survey.
