Fifth Annual MRI Survey of Electronic Health Record (EHR) Trends and Usage

Origin: www.medrecinst.com
Date: October 2003

Jeff Blair1

The Fifth Annual MRI Survey of EHR Trends and Usage (entitled Comprehensive EHR Survey 2003) is more comprehensive and has more compelling observations and insights than ever before. A total of 1150 individuals responded to the survey. To increase objectivity, the survey results include only those respondents who identified themselves as providers. To achieve this, the results exclude responses from vendors, consultants, and payers. This reduced the number of respondents included in the survey results to 759. The data includes responses received from April 15th through May 23rd, 2003.

The survey reveals insights into:

Management, administrative, and clinical motivations driving the need for Electronic Health Record systems

EHR applications and functions being implemented or planned

IT platforms used to support EHR applications

EHR configurations for different environments

Data capture methods being employed

Major barriers to EHRs

Mobile health/wireless concerns

Data security concerns

This document also includes, where appropriate, additional details such as trends, displays by market segments, displays by the role of the survey respondent, listing of vendors sdected for EHR systems, and relevant observations.

VALUE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE EHR SURVEY REPORT

Readers of the survey report should keep in mind that the method used to gather the information is not stricdy scientific. The information in the report is a compilation of data from individuals who chose to respond to email broad- casts inviting them to fill in the survey at the MRI or TEPR web site. While the respondents to this survey are not representative of the medical community as a whole, they are clearly knowledgeable about healthcare information technology (IT) solutions and plans. This level of knowledge among the respondents adds gready to the value of the survey results. Sixty-four percent of the survey respondents indicate that they either make the final decision for imple- menting EHRs or strongly influence the decision. To assist the reader in forming an appropriate level of confidence for interpreting the results, the actual number of individu- als who responded to each question, plus the margin of error, is shown at the bottom of each table where appropriate.

Table 1

Table 2

SEVERAL INSIGHTS

The seventy-page Comprehensive EHR Survey 2003 includes more than 140 observations. Here are just a few of the insights:

Solo and small practices are rapidly catching up to the other market segments with the EHR applications they have in use today. In addition, their plans for future EHR implementations often exceed the other market segments.

The need to improve workflow has become the num- ber one motivator for implementing EHRs from an administrative/management perspective and appears to be led by managers and IT professionals.

It is remarkable how quickly Tablet PCs have been accepted within the healthcare industry.

EXPANDED ANALYSIS OF EHR DATA CAP1URE, REVIEW AND UPDATE CAPABILITIES

The survey report also includes greatly expanded analysis of the EHR components and functions that are in use today. One example of this expansion is the survey results for EHR data capture, review, and update capabilities. Table 1 shows the capabilities that are installed today and the capabilities that are planned for implementation. Studying this table will reveal many insights; for example, the implementation plans with the highest priority appear to shift from 'pre-visit health screenings' to 'alerts, warnings, and reminders' and then to 'problem knowledge couplers' over the next four years.

Table 3

The survey report continues to analyze these capabilities by market segments. Table 2 shows that the capabilities in use today vary significantly by market segment. Similarly, Table 3 shows that the capabilities planned for implementation also vary significantly by market segment. Moreover, these tables reveal that the capabilities that are in use today for a particular market segment are different from the capabilities that are planned for the same market segment.

AVAILABILITY OF SURVEY REPORT

An overview of each of the questions included in the EHR Survey is available for review at no charge at the MRI web site (www.medrecinst.com). The complete report of the survey results are available from the MRI web site in print format for $250, plus shipping costs.

To purchase the Comprehensive EHR Survey 2003, click on the announcement at the top of the home page or select "Publications" from the top menu and click on "MRI EHR Survey" in the drop-down list. Select the purchase option and follow the steps on the form.

ENDNOTES

¹ Jeff Blair is vice-president of the Medical Records Institute (jeffblair@medrecinst.com)