New Study Says Solo and Small Practices Increase EHR Adoption

New Study Says Solo and Small Practices Increase EHR Adoption

The introduction of EHR and the concerns of its adoption have been in the news constantly for a couple of years. New healthcare reforms mandate the adoption of the new electronic medical record system by 2015. A recent study shows that solo and small practices have increased EHR adoption. The usage of the system in physician offices rose more than 10% while the implementation process continues for other physicians, as well.

SK&A, a healthcare information research firm that tracks EHR adoption rates for the government has given an estimate value supporting this fact. According to them, a telephone survey result which covers more than 270,000 US medical sites points to the fact that from just 42.3% of the previous year the adoption rate grew 11.4% to make it 53.7%.

For offices with 26 or more physicians, it showed only 1.6% increase which made it 77.5%. The overall adoption rate rose from 50.3% to 61%. The availability of more than 450 different solutions to fit the needs, size and budget of the practices has contributed a lot to this acceleration in the EHR adoption rate in solo and small practices.

Some of the other findings of the report include:    





The highest adoption rates are noted with physician specialties such as dialysis (80.6%), internal medicine/pediatrics (75.8%), nephrology (70.5%), pathology (69.4%), and radiology (69.2%).

The top 5 states that showed increase in EHR adoption include Utah (71.6%), South Dakota (71.2%), Wyoming (71.0%), Iowa (70.8%), and North Dakota (69.2%).

EHR adoption with integrated health systems has shown the highest rate of all site ownerships. The figures rose to 71.4% from 63.4%.

The increase in EHR adoption was seen when the number of physicians practicing at each site rose. When 69.6% adoption rate was seen with offices having 3 to 5 practicing physicians, the ones with 11 to 25 practicing physicians showed 78.1% adoption.

The increase in EHR adoption was also related to the hike in the number of exam rooms at each site. When 39.7% adoption rate was shown with offices having 1 exam room, 74.8% is the adoption rate for those having 11-plus exam rooms.

76.3% adoption rate was seen in offices with 101-plus average daily patients whereas only 57.5% was seen in offices having patient volumes of 1 to 50.

There is no doubt that new and emerging technologies can immensely enhance the documentation processes. The important thing is how they are implemented and used in a practice. One problem with EHR systems is that documentation of many encounters may not be readily made easy by the template solution. When complex data is forced into a restricted template, it could compromise the quality and scope of the patient encounter, and even lead to fraud and abuse. To ensure quality documentation, advanced technology could be combined with the services of a documentation specialist or that of a medical transcription company that can monitor the placement and quality of the information.

About The Author MTS Transcription Services (MTS) is a US-based medical transcription company, committed to provide HIPAA compliant medical transcription services for healthcare providers. We offer quality medical transcription outsourcing services to hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities of all major specialties including pediatrics, pathology, orthopedics, cardiology and more.

Contact Headquarters: 8596 E. 101st Street, Suite H Tulsa, OK 74133 Main: (800) 670 2809 Fax: (877) 835-5442