One-Fifth of Community Hospitals Plan To Change EHRs, Study Finds

Eighty percent of community hospitals believe their current electronic health record systems will allow them to comply with federal meaningful use rules by 2013, while 20% of community hospitals plan to switch systems, according to a study by research firm KLAS, Healthcare IT News reports.
Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Study Details

For the study, KLAS interviewed more than 500 health care professionals using various EHR systems (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 4/7).
The report covers seven EHR vendors, including:

• Cerner;
• CPSI;
• Healthland;
• Healthcare Management Systems;
• McKesson;
• Meditech; and
• Siemens.

Customer Satisfaction for EHR Vendors

According to the report, the EHR vendors that the scored the highest in customer satisfaction were:

• McKesson, which received 81.5 points out of 100;
• Meditech, which received 79.3 points; and
• Cerner, which received 73.1 points.

Paul Pitcher -- KLAS research director and author of the report --  said, "Healthland and Siemens MS4 customers are least confident in their vendors, largely due to struggles with clinician adoption and lack of confidence in the vendors' development lifecycle" (Goedert, Health Data Management, 4/7).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/4/11/onefifth-of-community-hospitals-plan-to-change-ehrs-study-finds.aspx#ixzz1JFTWHHpP