New Survey Results: 57% Compliance with EHR
A recent survey by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) conducted between February and June of this year indicates that nearly 57% of physicians responding to the survey were using electronic health records (EHR) in a capacity other than for billing. This represents a 6% increase from 2010 when usage was only reported at 50.7%. Additionally, 52% of respondents this year said that their practice was planning to apply for federal incentives linked to usage of EHR. The NCHS works as an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has been tracking the adoption of EHR since 2008 as part of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) program. These latest numbers were based on mail surveys compiled from a sample of about 10,300 physicians.
This year’s survey also showed marked increases in the use of “any” EHR system in the respondents adoption of the “basic” EHR systems. This year’s survey showed that more than one-third of those responding were using a basic EHR system in their practice, which is an increase from 2010 when less than 25% responded that they were using “any” of the EHR system.
The 2010 “basic” system lacked the capability to compile an allergy list, therefore fulfilling only seven functions; however the new definition in 2011 has added an allergy listing to the basic system. Missing from the 2011 report is a mention of adoption rates for “fully functional” EHR. A list of 16 functions was compiled through the work of Dr. David Blumenthal to constitute a fully functional EHR. They included all of the basic functions, but also listed advanced clinical decision-support features, such as clinical guidelines and drug-interaction alerts as well as interoperability functions, including the ability to electronically order lab and radiology tests. The 2010 report listed the penetration rate of a fully functional EHR at 10%.
Blumenthal’s researchers initially surveyed and found that the adoption level for fully functional EHR’s was 4%. With this information, they went back and gave partial credit to those physicians who were adopting a basic system with fewer functions which then moved the adoption level to 13%. This methodology was handed over to the NCHS for further use and survey work.