Fear, Loathing, and Documentation. Why Do Doctors Still Say They Hate EHR?

The following is a guest blog post by Daniel Sabido, Director of Product Marketing at CareCloud.

It’s been 10 years since the start of the modern EHR era. Why do doctors still report hating the technology so much? Electronic health records (EHR) have been fairly universally villainized in surveys of physicians. Here’s a recent sampler for you:

  • 54% of physicians reported being unhappy with their EHR system in 2014, according to an American EHR survey.

  • 82% of users in a survey by Peer 60 said they would actively discourage other medical professionals from using one particularly hated EHR vendor.

  • Physicians blame EHR for lost productivity — spending more time on documentation (85%) and seeing fewer patients (66%) in an IDC report on tech dissatisfaction.

What’s happening in healthcare? Is EHR really the most universally despised technology in America? Or is it a scapegoat for other changes in medicine? Let’s take a closer look at a couple of key trends:

A higher standard for EHR

Crucially, not all EHRs have been created equal. For years, the health technology market was swamped with expensive, server-based systems. These antiquated platforms were easily 20 years behind your average first-generation iPhone and looked more like Windows 95 than Mac iOS 10. When Meaningful Use incentives were prescribed under the 2008 economic stimulus plan, it created a surge in adoption for a technology landscape that frankly was not ready for primetime. Medical practices and physicians were right to complain about this rushed technology.

In recent years, we’ve seen a readjustment with a hot rip-and-replace market for EHR technology. Software Advice found that the number of clinicians replacing their EHRs increased 59% between 2014 and 2015. They’re not just upgrading to better systems; these medical groups are seeing the huge advances made in other industries and moving to the cloud. Black Book Rankings reported in 2015 that 7 out of 10 small medical practices were using a cloud-based EHR.

Changing health economics

At the same time that healthcare technology has been getting better, the economic pressure on medical practices and physicians has been getting more intense. The shift to value-based care and other policy changes have increased administrative burden. “About 80% of physician burnout is really due to workflow issues…the electronic medical record has contributed to burnout as one component,” said Steven Strongwater, a rheumatologist and CEO at Atrius Health in a New England Journal of Medicine interview.

It’s not just the recording process, but how much physicians are being asked to record that is interfering with the clinical workflow. There’s an epidemic of “just one more thing” creep in regulatory policy. Asking physicians to record a relatively simple new health marker, such as smoking status, can quickly compound into an extra hour a week of work. EHR systems don’t need to just keep up, they also need to speed ahead of increasing efficiency drag in the practice of medicine.

Perception vs. reality

Health technology has undoubtedly created stress on physicians in the past decade. Research also shows tremendous benefit. Contrary to the common belief that EHR gets in the way of patient experience, research shows that patients prefer it when their physician uses a computer. A whopping 76% of patients said they prefer their doctor to use EHR over paper charts, according to a survey by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC).

In our 2017 Practice Performance Index, we found that high-performing medical practices were twice as likely to be adopting new health technology compared to practices that were falling behind. In our upcoming Patient Experience Index, a full 85% of patients said that it was important for medical practices they visit to be “modern and up to date.”

What comes next for EHR?

I believe we’re entering a new era of EHR in healthcare. Thanks to the shift to cloud-based systems, there is a faster pace of innovation in the sector. Cloud-based systems can roll out upgrades in a few hours, instead of a few months of costly consultant-driven updates. We’re seeing a new focus on tools that intelligently streamline administrative tasks and that connect what happens inside the exam room with the patient experience outside it. The same kind of technology that helps recommend movies on Netflix and send friendly timely reminders on Runkeeper are coming to healthcare, helping physicians provide a better patient experience and improve overall outcomes.

There are also new risks emerging to this rosy future. Meaningful Use created bad behaviors in the EHR market — the kinds of rote, administrative bulk that led to physicians despising their systems. MACRA could be heading down the same path. Can health technology companies stop history from repeating this time?

At the end of the day, patients want their doctors to be using modern technology, and patient satisfaction is a crucial part of the shift to value-based care economics. Physicians who want to be successful in their practice will need to find a way to love their EHR — or look for one that can keep up with new demands. It’s up to those of us in the health technology sector to meet them halfway.

About Daniel Sabido
Daniel Sabido is CareCloud’s Director of Product Marketing, where his responsibilities span the entire portfolio of products, and is particularly focused on identifying trends that will affect the performance of medical groups across the country. Previous to joining CareCloud, he was an Engagement Manager at OC&C, a global management consultancy, based in their London HQ where he focused on B2B clients. Daniel has also held strategic planning roles at McCann Worldgroup in New York and at the Monitor Group as a consulting analyst.

Daniel holds an MBA with Distinction from the London Business School and completed his undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with majors in Finance and Operations.

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3 Comments

  • The interface that has consistently received high ratings from physicians is the VA’s CPRS. This is an old technology (written in Delphi back in the 90’s), but it just works.

    The thing physicians hate most about current systems is indeed the process of entering information. It is simply incredibly slow compared to dictation.

  • Not surprising. There are many things to hate (or love) about an EHR. Internet speed, system efficiency (number of clicks to navigate), options for free text or voice dictation, ability to customize, mobile app, quality of training, vendor support – just to name a few. When all of these things align, an EHR can increase office efficiency. When they don’t, it can be a disaster. If you were to poll our IMS clients, I think very few of them would say they want to return to paper charting.

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