Survey Tracks EMR Use and Trends

张琨

Survey Tracks EMR Use and Trends(October 19, 2007) Finances continue to be the largest barrier to electronic medical records adoption, but the barrier may be easing, according to a new survey. Further, survey results suggest clinician resistance also is falling.

Forty percent of respondents to the Medical Record Institute’s Ninth Annual Survey of Electronic Medical Records Trends and Usage cited lack of adequate funding or resources as the largest barrier to adoption, down from 56% a year earlier.

Other barriers include anticipated difficulties in changing to an EMR (31%), difficulty in building a strong business case (24%), difficulty in finding a system not fragmented among vendors or platforms (19%), and lack of support by medical staff or partners (19%). In 2006, nearly 32% of respondents cited lack of support by medical staff as a barrier; the option last year did not include the term “partners.”

The survey of 819 respondents from provider organizations was conducted between April and July 2007. Participants responded to e-mail broadcasts inviting them to complete the survey at the Boston’ based institute’s Web site, or during the institute’s annual TEPR meeting in Dallas in May, or at the TEPR Web site.

Ninety-two percent of responses came from organizations in the United States. Forty-seven percent of all respondents work in the ambulatory setting, 25% in hospitals and the remainder in delivery systems or other provider organizations.

A 33-page report of survey results drills down into what types of EMR functions are being used; different ways that data are entered into the application; and the effect users believe EMRs have on the quality, efficiency and safety of care.

“Users of this survey should keep in mind that the method used to gather the information is not strictly scientific,” the Medical Records Institute cautions in the report. “The survey results should not be interpreted as a measure of the actual implementation levels of EMR for the health care industry. However, the results are valuable as an indicator of the relative implementation levels or plans of the respondents.”

wholx

interesting to see how lack of support by medical staff has decreased. could it  be a result of a greater awareness among the medical staffs of how EMR is necessary and important?