Middle Tennessee also reports above average adoption rates by specialty providers and greater overall EHR satisfaction
Nashville, TN – Nashville may be one of the fastest growing healthcare markets in the country, but the number one electronic health record vendor is notably absent in the area.
A recent study conducted by TechnologyAdvice revealed that Epic, the nation’s EHR market leader, fails to rank among the top five vendors used by offices in Middle Tennessee. Cost appears to be the primary consideration in electronic health record implementation for local healthcare providers, a finding supported by the wide use of PracticeFusion, a free EHR that boasts the second largest market share in Nashville.
“With such wide regional variance in national studies on EHR adoption, we wanted to examine how implementation is doing in a city renowned for its healthcare industry,” said Zach Watson, one of TechnologyAdvice’s EHR specialists. “While we were not surprised that cost was a priority, we were surprised to see how much it played a role in limiting the Nashville footprint of one of the nation’s top EHR platforms.”
The study, which included a survey of nearly 300 physicians, also shows that Nashville healthcare providers are significantly more satisfied with their EHR programs than providers nationwide. Average EHR satisfaction among local physicians was reported at 8.26 on a scale of 1-10 compared to a 6.6 national average.
While data shows the region’s 76 percent overall EHR adoption rate falls just below the national average (78 percent), local adoption rates among certain specialties are significantly higher. Dermatology, family care, and internal medicine are among the local specialties implementing EHR solutions faster than their national counterparts.
The study also revealed several other surprising numbers, including:
- Only 6.8 percent of providers surveyed were dissatisfied with their EHRs
- 16 percent of providers in Nashville have already switched EHRs
- 36 percent of Nashville healthcare providers plan to attest for the Meaningful Use federal incentives program in 2014. That number is well below the national attestation rate of 69 percent, but falls in the margin of error for the national average recently reported by the National Center for Healthcare Statistics.
Nashville is home to 15 publicly traded healthcare companies and more than 300 private and public healthcare organizations, making the city one of the nation’s leaders in healthcare innovation, investment, and job growth.
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