Dive Brief:
- About 25% of providers at small practices feel they are "stuck with" or are trying to ditch their current EMR vendor, according to a new KLAS study.
- The study interviewed representatives from 750 medical practices with a staff of 10 or fewer, finding that one-quarter of providers said their EMRs suffered from poor usability, missing functionalities and unreliable customer support from their vendors. Cerner, PCC, GE, Greenway, PrimeSUITE and athenahealth were the only vendors with fewer than 20% of their customers venting their dissatisfaction in the survey.
- "Small physician practices are really feeling the pressure of keeping up with regulations such as meaningful use," report author Erik Bermudez told HIT Consultant.
Dive Insight:
While many doctors detest the very idea of using an EMR, few practices have been willing to let the chance at collecting incentives go, and they certainly didn't want to be penalized with reduced reimbursement. So most have held their nose and bought an EMR. Under those circumstances, it's little wonder that many of the systems they chose were ill-suited to support their practice workflow, badly made or poorly supported.
Now, however, they've had a chance to take their lumps and learn what their true EMR needs are, including an easy-to-use interface, strong technical support and as much training as they need to be truly prepared to use the product. Perhaps they'll be better prepared for EMR shopping success the second time around.
Want to read more? You may enjoy this feature on why Jonathan Bush thinks big vendors like Epic, Cerner will 'collapse'.