Physician Practices Increasingly Accepting HIEs, Retooling EHRs

Nearly half of physician practices plan to join a health information exchange, while more than one-third of practices plan to purchase a new electronic health record system, or replace or upgrade their existing EHR system, according to a study by HIMSS Analytics, InformationWeek reports.

For the study, HIMSS Analytics -- the research arm of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society -- surveyed 846 physician practices.

Health Information Exchange Findings

Of the 46% physician practices that said they plan to join an HIE:

• 19% preferred a state-run HIE;
• 16% preferred an exchange connected to a hospital or health care system; and
• 11% preferred a regional exchange.

About 37% of respondents said they do not plan to join an HIE, while 17% already belong to an exchange or were unsure about joining one.

Hospital-owned groups were more likely than privately owned practices to join an exchange, with 62% of hospital-owned groups planning to join, compared with 39% of private practices.

EHR Findings

The study also found that one-third of practices plan to replace, upgrade or purchase a new EHR system.

Drivers of EHR purchases varied among practices. For example,  35% of physician groups with more than 100 doctors reported that the ability to exchange patient data among facilities was the biggest driver, compared with 17% of all practices.

Meanwhile, increasing efficiency was the biggest drive for practices with three to 10 doctors (Terry, InformationWeek, 6/6).

Comments

Brendan FitzGerald, research director of HIMSS Analytics, said the study found a "high [EHR] adoption rate across not only hospital-owned but free-standing physician practices as well," adding, "That's a positive for the industry."

In addition, "[a]s we get further down the road of meeting meaningful use ... more and more folks are leaning toward joining a health information exchange," FitzGerald said.

He said the findings show that most providers are "enthusiastically" embracing HIE adoption.

"Overall there is still that fine tuning and work that needs to be done until physician practices and hospitals alike are happy," FitzGerald said (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 6/6).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2013/6/7/physician-practices-increasingly-accepting-hies-retooling-ehrs.aspx#ixzz2VYtb7dBD