Survey: 30% of Practices Have EMRs

HDM Breaking News, October 30, 2008

Adoption of electronic medical records at physician group practices is growing very slowly, a survey conducted in June shows. Some 30% of physician group practice administrators surveyed said they have functional components of an electronic record in place at their organization. A similar survey in 2006 found 26% had components in place.

Only 13% of respondents expect to purchase electronic records software in the near future, with half of those expecting the purchase within a year.

The survey, conducted by telephone by HIMSS Analytics, had 500 participants, primarily practice managers. One-third worked for primary care practices, while two-thirds worked at specialty clinics. Some 91% of respondents worked at practices with 14 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. HIMSS Analytics is a unit of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, Chicago.

Other survey highlights include:

* The top two barriers to electronic records adoption are cost and lack of interest.
* Half of respondents who plan to purchase a system indicated they will purchase a system that is certified by the Certification Commission of Healthcare Information Technology.
* One-fourth of respondents said their organization uses e-prescribing. The majority of respondents not now using e-prescribing have no plans to use it.

To view the entire results, visit himssanalytics.org.

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:

• Consumer Health
• Decision Support
• Disease Management
• Electronic Health Records
• Practice Management
• Group Practices