CHICAGO—Brace yourself before you read this. Two surveys released for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference found that physicians are frustrated by their electronic health-record systems.
The surveys were released by Accenture (PDF) and Athenahealth subsidiary Epocrates (PDF). Between the two surveys, about 1,500 doctors were interviewed.
The Accenture survey was more wide-ranging, interviewing doctors on how they felt about various functionalities of their EHRs. Doctors are feeling more EHR-literate now than they were in the past, 79% said. Most functionalities had a sharp uptake in usage. For instance, secure messaging between patients and clinicians surged, with far more doctors saying they've now using that tool compared with 2012. Still, doctors remained very frustrated with the state of their electronic records.
Nearly 3 in 5 (58%) respondents agreed that the EHR system in their organization was difficult to use; 71% felt health IT meant less time with patients. And more doctors than before said EHRs are negative influences in the quality of their care. In 2012, 5% felt that EHRs increased errors versus 12% today.
The Epocrates survey focused on data-sharing. Physicians surveyed felt the health IT industry did not perform well in this respect. Sixty percent gave vendors a failing grade on interoperability. And 62% of physicians said the lack of data-sharing was not because the EHR was incapable of it. More than 90% of those surveyed said the lack of interoperability led to redundant care or delayed care.
The lack of complete, accurate data-sharing was cited most commonly for medication listings (77%), though many also groused about lab and imaging tests (64%).
