Report: 67% of physician offices do not use EMRs
With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 offering incentives to physicians to adopt EMR systems in their offices, a new research survey released by SK&A Information Services reveals that 67 percent of medical offices with four or more physicians do not currently use EMR software.
"The EMR legislation found in the Act will drive improvements in patient care by incentivizing physician offices to implement EMR solutions," said Dave Escalante, president and CEO of SK&A. "The impact of this adoption will create opportunities in many industries--EMR/electronic health record solution providers, healthcare IT consultants, computer hardware and software companies, and telephone and cable service providers."
SK&A said its report, which is summarized and segmented by office size, practice size, 20 site specialties and patient volume, reveals valuable trends on future EMR adoption.
Researchers found that in smaller practices with four to five physicians, 31.6 percent have EMR software. In larger practices with 26-plus physicians, 39.24 percent have EMR systems.
In practices with three exam rooms, 33.77 percent have EMR software, whereas in practices with more than 11 exam rooms, nearly half have EMR solutions. In physician offices with volumes of one to 50 patients per day, 30.2 percent have EMR software. On the opposing side, of large practices with daily patient volumes of more than 100 patients, 39.2 percent have EMR systems.
"These findings are not surprising," Escalante said. "Groups with four or more doctors are run like businesses with established processes and standards, like EMR, to boost efficiency, increase productivity and lower costs, all while helping to improve the type and amount of care provided to patients. Through the new legislation, many practices will be encouraged to develop new strategies to modernize their offices."
The specialty areas with the highest adoption rates include anesthesiology, emergency medicine and internal medicine. Those areas with the lowest adoption rates include urology, psychiatry and plastic surgery.
Findings from SK&A's research support the 2008 estimates projected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for office-based physician EMR usage. Between April and August 2008, the organization sent a series of three surveys to 2,000 U.S. physician offices.
Of the surveyed physicians, 38 percent reported using full or partial EMR systems. The NCHS estimate aligns with the results found in SK&A's survey of 54,177 offices. Both conclude that significantly more than half of physicians do not have EMR systems in place.
SK&A said its report is an ongoing study of all U.S. physician offices. When complete in May, the report will feature data and summarized market research from 225,000-plus physician offices representing more than 638,000 physicians, according to the firm.
"The EMR legislation found in the Act will drive improvements in patient care by incentivizing physician offices to implement EMR solutions," said Dave Escalante, president and CEO of SK&A. "The impact of this adoption will create opportunities in many industries--EMR/electronic health record solution providers, healthcare IT consultants, computer hardware and software companies, and telephone and cable service providers."
SK&A said its report, which is summarized and segmented by office size, practice size, 20 site specialties and patient volume, reveals valuable trends on future EMR adoption.
Researchers found that in smaller practices with four to five physicians, 31.6 percent have EMR software. In larger practices with 26-plus physicians, 39.24 percent have EMR systems.
In practices with three exam rooms, 33.77 percent have EMR software, whereas in practices with more than 11 exam rooms, nearly half have EMR solutions. In physician offices with volumes of one to 50 patients per day, 30.2 percent have EMR software. On the opposing side, of large practices with daily patient volumes of more than 100 patients, 39.2 percent have EMR systems.
"These findings are not surprising," Escalante said. "Groups with four or more doctors are run like businesses with established processes and standards, like EMR, to boost efficiency, increase productivity and lower costs, all while helping to improve the type and amount of care provided to patients. Through the new legislation, many practices will be encouraged to develop new strategies to modernize their offices."
The specialty areas with the highest adoption rates include anesthesiology, emergency medicine and internal medicine. Those areas with the lowest adoption rates include urology, psychiatry and plastic surgery.
Findings from SK&A's research support the 2008 estimates projected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for office-based physician EMR usage. Between April and August 2008, the organization sent a series of three surveys to 2,000 U.S. physician offices.
Of the surveyed physicians, 38 percent reported using full or partial EMR systems. The NCHS estimate aligns with the results found in SK&A's survey of 54,177 offices. Both conclude that significantly more than half of physicians do not have EMR systems in place.
SK&A said its report is an ongoing study of all U.S. physician offices. When complete in May, the report will feature data and summarized market research from 225,000-plus physician offices representing more than 638,000 physicians, according to the firm.