Hospital-Employed PCPs Experience Greater EHR Satisfaction

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

The majority of primary care physicians employed by hospitals say they are satisfied with their EHR while only 20 percent of independent PCPs said the same.

A Black Book Market Research survey found user satisfaction of EHRs varies greatly between primary care physicians who are employed by hospitals and those who operate independently.

iHealth Beat writes 68 percent of PCPs employed by a hospital said they were satisfied with their EHR systems, compared to 20 percent of independent PCPs. Other factors that affected satisfaction were levels of EHR training and how long since users had implemented their systems.

The survey also notes Greenway ranked first across all surveyed primary care EHR systems. In 2013 and 2014, Greenway ranked second. The company also received the highest customer satisfaction scores in:

• the primary care subsets of general practice and family practice
• system patient health data management
• administrative processing
• order entry and management

“Product and vendor loyalty among primary care practices over six physicians is on the upward trajectory,” said Doug Brown, Black Book's managing partner in an announcement. “The vendor's abilities to meet the evolving demands of interoperability, networking, mobile devices, accountable care, patient accessibility, customization for generalist workflow, and reimbursement are the main factors that the replacement mentality and late adoption are turning course.”

“Solo and smaller practices under five practitioners, particularly in urban, east coast locations, that are struggling with resources are this market segment's late adopters,” said Brown. Seventy-nine of primary care doctors defining themselves in the survey as meeting these criteria have not yet implemented EHR.

Fierce EMR reports that, from the end of 2014 to summer of 2015, primary care was one of the fastest growing market segments. Ninety-four percent of practices employing more than six practitioners either having implemented or in the process of implementing or selecting an EHR. Experts note, however, that solo and smaller practices struggling with resources are this market segment's late adapters.

“Users credit recent satisfaction gains to the efforts of vendors to improve workflow issues, delivering on promises, meaningful use achievements, demonstrated data exchange, and fortified US-based client support,” said Brown.