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EHR Adoption Percentage, EHR Story, and Future of EHR


I always love to grab the various EHR adoption numbers. Seems like most are hovering around the 60% number now. This one says 57% EHR adoption.


Of course, this is coming from ONC’s Twitter account, but I’m always happy to read someone’s story. If you’re willing to put your name to it, I’m willing to read it and see what you have to say. Plus, he takes a realistic look at some of the benefits of an EHR in a real matter of fact way.


This is probably the most focused and well written description of the real reasons why EHR software is a disappointment today. Unfortunately, the issues described are a fundamental problem with the healthcare system and something unlikely to change in the near future.

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May 12, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

Filed Under: EHR  EHR Market  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  Healthcare IT Market
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Does adding all these EHR and other tech add or subtract to healthcare?

Such a compelling and tough question to consider. Let me repeat it again so you can let it roll around in your mind for a minute:

Does adding all these EHR and other tech add or subtract to healthcare?

This was one of the off hand comments I heard someone make in their presentation at TEDMED and I think it’s a serious question that every EHR company and healthcare IT vendor should consider.

The simple answer to the question is that some companies add to healthcare and some take away from healthcare. That’s just the nature of markets. However, there’s a deeper part of the question which fundamentally asks if the shift to electronic is helping healthcare or hurting it.

As I’ve mentioned previously, at my core I believe that technology has an overall positive impact on any industry. In my heart I believe that technology has the potential to improve most things.

My fear with the above question is whether we’re implementing the right technology that will help us have a positive impact on healthcare or whether we’re currently implementing dated technology which will set us back for years to come.

I got in a heated discussion today on LinkedIn about the MUMPS database. A HUGE portion of healthcare is built on the back of MUMPS. Nothing against MUMPS (although it does sound like an STD), but is it going to be powerful enough to “add” to healthcare or will we reach a point that its limitations start subtracting from what could be possible?

I don’t necessarily want this post to become a MUMPS pros and cons post, but I think it’s a great illustration of why I’m reticent to say that the technology foundation that healthcare is building today is providing a platform for an amazing healthcare IT future.

On the other side of the spectrum is the plethora of smart phone apps and devices in healthcare. You can’t tell me that the Alivecor device or AirStrip’s work in the mobile field isn’t incredibly exciting. They’re leveraging the latest technology in a beautiful way.

One challenge we do face is the HUGE number of EMR companies and mobile health apps. With so many companies, we’re bound to have a healthcare software graveyard soon. Hopefully the companies we find in the graveyard are those who were subtracting from healthcare instead of adding to it. Unfortunately, that’s still just a hope and may not be the reality.

Many of our newer readers might not be familiar with my reference to Jabba the Hutt EHRs. The concept would seem to apply well to this post. For those not familiar with the concept, Jabba the Hutt was a really powerful individual, but it’s safe to say that he wasn’t very nimble. Does this sound a bit like some of the healthcare IT and EHR companies that dominate the market today?

Maybe I’m wrong, but the nimble innovative companies are the ones that usually add the most to healthcare versus subtracting. Luckily history is on my side. I’m just not sure we have enough Princess Leia companies that are in a position to wrap their chain around the neck of Jabba the Hutt companies.

I’ll let you decide which companies you believe add to healthcare and which ones subtract from healthcare. Although, I think we’d all benefit if every company focused on adding to healthcare.

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May 7, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

Filed Under: EHR  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare  Healthcare IT  Healthcare IT Market
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simplifyMD New “Free” Patient Room Cartoon

A while back simplifyMD sent me a link to their EHR cartoon gallery. I’ll admit that I was a little underwhelmed with their first set of cartoons. They looked professional, but the content and writing needed some help. I happened upon the gallery again today and found a new cartoon called, ‘Easy Street Family Practice installs a “Free” patient room.’ Check it out (click on the image to see it full size):
simplifyMD Ad Supported Patient Rooms

I thought this was a hilarious jab at our societal move to “Free” everything. It’s a bit of an exaggeration of what it’s really like to get something for free in return for time spent seeing ads. This is especially true of Free EHR where the ads are as unobtrusive as any ads I’ve seen on anything. However, it does illustrate the reason why many people aren’t comfortable with the Free EHR model.

I did have one user of the Practice Fusion Free EHR recently tell me that if the EHR weren’t free, there’s no way they’d still be using that EHR. I thought it provided an interesting perspective on the value of free. We’ll see how this plays out long term for Practice Fusion and if these type of experiences taint the Free EHR market for everyone else.

Plus, I couldn’t write about Free EHR without mentioning that just because an EHR doesn’t cost money doesn’t mean that there aren’t other costs. Some people are ok with the Free EHR costs of advertising and data. Others are not. The key is to be aware of the hidden costs of using a Free EHR.

Going back to the cartoon, I think I might prefer some in exam room advertising if it would replace my co-pay. I’d be fine with a nice Pepsi ad in the exam room in return for lower healthcare costs. Although like most things in life, it can certainly be taken too far if we’re not careful.

Full Disclosure: simplifyMD is an advertiser on this site.

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April 24, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

Filed Under: EHR  EHR Market  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare IT  Healthcare IT Market
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Medical Apps, $21 Billion EMR Market, and Sick of EMR


This is a pretty interesting idea and another way to talk about subjects we’ve talked about many times here. The idea of an app in this case is an app on top of EMR software. I call this making the Smart EMR. It will likely come from these apps. The article is right that many of the data warehouses are clunky and don’t serve the doctors. In fact, there are very few data warehouses focused on the doctors needs at all.


The last EMR incentive numbers I saw were at $10 billion. Does that mean the government has funded half of the market? These numbers are always a little fishy, but it’s interesting to consider how big the EMR market is.


I actually know a lot of doctors who love their EMR and wouldn’t practice medicine without one. What I think most doctors are tired of is all the government regulations. We shouldn’t confuse government regulations with EMR.

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April 21, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

Filed Under: EHR  EHR Market  Electronic Health Record  Electronic Medical Record  EMR  Healthcare Business Intelligence  Healthcare IT  Healthcare IT Market
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Study: Open Source On A Growth Path In Healthcare

A new survey has concluded that open source software has reached a high enough maturity and quality level to attract users in formerly commercial settings.  The study, the seventh annual “Future of Open Source Survey,” has concluded that open source software is rapidly changing the way organizations inside and outside of healthcare do business, according to Open Health News.

More than 800 respondents participated in the survey, which is backed by North Bridge Venture Partners and Black Duck Software, including both vendor- and non-vendor representatives.

Researchers found that healthcare users, as well as those in government and media, are increasingly swayed to use open source, thanks to advantages in collaboration, transparency and speed, Open Health News reports.

There’s indications that healthcare players are willing to embrace the technology — and by extension the open source development community — in the data gathered by the survey. Over the next two to three years, 15 percent of respondents said health and science would be most affected by open source software trends.

Generally speaking, cutting across healthcare and non-healthcare industries, respondents seemed willing to embrace open source’s challenges if it met their needs.  When choosing open source software over proprietary solutions, 45 percent of respondents chose technical capabilities and features as important, while only 12 percent chose commercial vendor support as an important buying criterion.

Another broad trend which emerged was that open source buyers were becoming convinced that open source solutions were of high quality; in fact, quality jumped from third place to first as a reason to adopt open source software. Freedom from vendor lock-in came in at second place in in the list.

Another very interesting observation, cutting across industries, was that lower costs, big data and systems integration were the top three business problems open source software is solving.  I can certainly see those as advantages healthcare needs to leverage, don’t you?

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April 19, 2013 I Written By

Anne Zieger is veteran healthcare consultant and analyst with 20 years of industry experience. Zieger formerly served as editor-in-chief of FierceHealthcare.com and her commentaries have appeared in dozens of international business publications, including Forbes, Business Week and Information Week. She has also contributed content to hundreds of healthcare and health IT organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies.

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Keys to Successful Telehealth

Rob Sobie wrote a nice post on the Point of Care Corner blog about the 4 Keys to a Successful Telemedicine Launch. These are the 4 keys he offers:

  • Reliability
  • Ease of Use
  • Mobility
  • Flexibility

Most of the ideas are pretty self explanatory, but check out the full post for his explanation of each item. I agree with each item, but I think there are a number of other things that are needed for successful telehealth as well.

Multiple Application Support – While we’d love to have the entire Telehealth experience on one application, it’s unlikely to ever happen. While doing a Telehealth visit, the doctor is going to need access to a number of other applications such as their EHR. This is where the dual monitor Telehealth setup is so beneficial. They can have the Telehealth visit up on one screen while they browse their EHR or other health application on the other screen.

Telehealth Reimbursement – I recently asked an insurance company executive about Telehealth and if they’re really start reimbursing for it. He said they were happy to reimburse a Telehealth visit, as long as they had a way to know that there was indeed a visit that justified payment. You can see where they’re afraid of Telehealth reimbursement fraud. His solution to that was reimbursing Telehealth systems that were their trusted partners. With this in mind, you want to make sure whatever Telehealth solution you use is trusted by the payers so that you get paid.

Device Connectivity – One of the challenges of Telehealth is the ability to get device information from a patient. There’s a new wave of Telehealth technologies that are incorporating medical devices into the Telehealth experience. Integrating Telehealth and devices really takes Telehealth to the next level and since the cost of devices is dropping dramatically we’re going to see more and more integrations. Just be careful because many Telehealth platforms won’t have the forethought to do this type of device integration.

I’m sure there are other keys to Telehealth success. I’d love to hear your additional ideas in the comments. Where are you seeing it implemented? What’s been most successful?

I believe the Telehealth market is set to grow like it’s never grown before. The technology and infastructure are in place for it to become a reality. Things like shared savings will drive adoption of Telehealth as a way to lower costs. The article linked above says that Telehealth is projected to be a $27.3 billion industry in 2016. I’m personally looking forward to the shift to Telehealth.

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April 4, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

Filed Under: Healthcare  Healthcare IT  Healthcare IT Market  Medical Devices  mHealth  Telemedicine
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VA Asks DoD To Adopt Vista

For decades, the Department of Defense has struggled to build an EMR, but 20 years and $10 billion later, still hasn’t pulled together a satisfactory system. The DoD’s system, AHLTA, has seen project failure after project failure and still isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do efficiently. Now — at long last — DoD is looking at different options.

In theory, the DoD is still hacking away at the iEHR, a joint system with the VA, which is due for testing in 2014. iEHR is slated to include a mix of commercial and open source technologies. But the evidence suggests that iEHR is another failed project.

A few weeks ago, the VA submitted a formal proposal to the DoD suggesting that the Military Health system migrate away from AHLTA,working in collaboration with open source VistA community members such as the Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA), WorldVista and several other companies involved in VistA development, OpenHealthNews notes.

The prospect of seeing VistA put in place has its advocates excited, to say the least. Seeing an opportunity, the open source community has launched a petition on the White House web site urging the DoD to adopt VistA, reports OpenHealthNews.

So, is moving to VistA a good idea? For those, including myself, who aren’t up to date on just how extensive VistA’s presence is, note that it already embraces (stats courtesy of OpenHealthNews):

• Over 6 million patients, with 75 million outpatient visits and 680,000 inpatient admissions
• More than 1,500 sites of care, including 152 hospitals, 965 outpatient clinics, 133 community living centers, and 293 Vet Centers
• 244,000 employees including more than 20,000 physicians and 53,000 nurses
• Affiliations with more than 1,200 educational institutions with more than 100,000 health care students receiving clinical training from VA each year

VistA is one of the few EMRs out there that has been proven successful over time, garners universal respect and has an enthusiastic user base. Oh, and of course, the price is right even after you add in integration and development costs.  I personally signed the White House petition — will you be doing so?

Also, for another look at the integration failures of the DoD and VA check out Jon Stewart’s rant.

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April 2, 2013 I Written By

Anne Zieger is veteran healthcare consultant and analyst with 20 years of industry experience. Zieger formerly served as editor-in-chief of FierceHealthcare.com and her commentaries have appeared in dozens of international business publications, including Forbes, Business Week and Information Week. She has also contributed content to hundreds of healthcare and health IT organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies.

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March Madness and the EHR Vendor Shakeout

I’m not sure how many of my readers love March Madness as much as I do. I just love the emotion and the all day experience of March Madness. Unfortunately there haven’t been quite as many last minute buzzer beaters for the win as there have been in years past, but I still love the emotions of the games. These young kids have worked almost their entire life for this moment. I love to see the raw emotions from both teams.

As I think about March Madness, I couldn’t help but think about the EHR Madness we’re experiencing right now. We don’t have 68 teams in the EHR tournament. Instead, there are more like 300+ EHR vendors. In fact, in just the last week or two I’ve had two EHR vendors I’d never heard of contact me. Yes, we’ve seen some EHR software put out to pasture, but we still have a long ways to go before the EHR market really shakes itself out.

The nice thing for EHR vendors is that unlike the NCAA tournament which only has one winner, the EHR world is likely going to have many many successful companies. First, because many EHR vendors will likely get acquired by larger EHR vendors. Second, because it’s fair to say that the EHR world is going to be a heterogeneous environment. There won’t be one EHR to rule them all (although some EHR vendors still think they might get there).

Which type of vendors am I putting my money on in the EHR battle?

While many EHR vendors might win some short term battles, I think the big EHR winners are going to be those who end up battling through the mess of regulation while still having a laser focus on the impact to doctors. The most expensive employee in every healthcare institution is the doctors. EHR software that takes these high paid doctors away from seeing patients is going to have a real challenge long term.

I’ve written about the EHR Backlash a number of times before. I think productivity is going to be at the core of the EHR backlash. I’m hopeful that EHR vendors are taking this idea to heart, but I also still see a very long road in front of us to reach EHR nirvana.

I’ve been digging into the idea of a Smart EMR lately. At the core of the idea is how to make a doctor more efficient at what they do while increasing the quality of care provided. That certainly stands in stark contrast to many of the other EHR initiatives we see out there today.

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March 29, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 5000 articles with John having written over 2000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 9.3 million times. John also recently launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: @techguy and @ehrandhit.

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Allscripts Drops Lawsuit Over $303 Million Deal

Allscripts has agreed to drop a lawsuit against the New York City Health & Hospitals Corp. over a $303 million contract, Bloomberg reports.  In a display of what may be wishful thinking, Allscripts said it “looks forward to having the opportunity to work with HHC on other matters in the future,” according to Bloomberg.

Allscripts had sued the Health & Hospitals Corp., which runs the city’s public hospitals, when it awarded an EMR contract to Epic Systems. The contract involved tying together 11 public hospitals, 70 clinics, thousands of doctors and more than one million patients.

Allscripts had argued that it was a more logical choice because among other things, it offered a less costly choice. Execs had estimated that over 15 years, when ancillary costs are included, it would cost $1.4 billion to implement Epic, while its own EMR rollout could be completed for less than half that number.

But Alan Aviles, HHC’s CEO, argued that his team had given plenty of consideration to Epic’s rivals, spending four years on its nine-vendor shortlist. Moreover, he didn’t buy Allscripts’ savings estimates, according to a New York Times piece. Aviles noted that Allscripts’ estimate had assumed that application support for its product would cost nothing for 15 years, while HHC estimated the cost at $357 million.

Well, I don’t know what good all of this legal fencing did Allscripts. The vendor is already under closer scrutiny than its peers, given its management troubles and continued rumors that it will be acquired. I’d argue that the last thing it needs is to dissipate executive energies on a lawsuit that makes it look unreasonable or even desperate. But at least its leaders had the sense to drop the suit and move on.

Now it can turn its energies to the MyWay suit filed against it by a group of Florida physicians. The suit claims that the MyWay EMR, which was taken off the market last year, was defective, and that the offer of a free upgrade to its professional suite imposed additional costs.

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March 27, 2013 I Written By

Anne Zieger is veteran healthcare consultant and analyst with 20 years of industry experience. Zieger formerly served as editor-in-chief of FierceHealthcare.com and her commentaries have appeared in dozens of international business publications, including Forbes, Business Week and Information Week. She has also contributed content to hundreds of healthcare and health IT organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies.

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Another Study Highlights Physician EMR Unhappiness

The evidence keeps coming in, over and over, like waves pounding on a beach.  Many physicians aren’t happy with their EMRs, and the number of discontented doctors seems to be growing — with an undetermined but sizable number seeming likely to switch this year.

This time the evidence comes courtesy of the American College of Physicians and EMR selection site AmericanEHR Partners. A new study by the pair reports that physician satisfaction with EMRs dropped 12 percentage points between 2010 and 2012, and that the number who are “very dissatisfied” grew by 10 percentage points, FierceEMR reports.

These numbers, which were drawn from 4,279 responses to multiple surveys between March 2010 and December 2012, are a particularly strong reflection of the mood among smaller practices. Seventy-one percent of doctors/practices responding to the survey were in practices with 10 physicians or fewer, the ACP said.

These physicians seem downright upset with their current vendors. In fact, 39 percent of clinicians said they wouldn’t recommend their current EMR to a colleague, up sharply from the 24 percent who said the same in 2010.

According to the ACP, physicians feel their EMR is failing them in several key areas:

*  Improving care:  Doctors who were “very satisfied” with their EMR’s ability to improve care fell by 6 percent from 2010, while the “very dissatisfied” climbed 10 percent, with surgical specialists the least satisfied specialty.

* Decreasing workload:  ACP found that 34 percent of users were “very dissatisfied” with their ability to decrease workload, up from just 19 percent in 2010.

* Return to pre-EMR productivity:  The number of respondents who had not returned normal productivity after their EMR install was 32 percent in 2012, up from 20 percent in 2010.

* Ease of use: Dissatisfaction with EMR ease of use climbed to 37 percent in 2012, up from 23 percent in 2012, while satisfaction dropped from 61 to 48 percent.

That we’re seeing something of an EMR backlash seems obvious here. The question is, will unhappy physicians switch futilely and end up just as unhappy, or are they going to actually improve their experience?

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March 15, 2013 I Written By

Anne Zieger is veteran healthcare consultant and analyst with 20 years of industry experience. Zieger formerly served as editor-in-chief of FierceHealthcare.com and her commentaries have appeared in dozens of international business publications, including Forbes, Business Week and Information Week. She has also contributed content to hundreds of healthcare and health IT organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies.

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