While there are many advantages to electronic medical records, they still have a long way to go when it comes to account care organization (ACO) needs. In fact, their shortcomings are leading many physician-led ACO’s to turn to third-party vendors to close the gap.
These findings were gathered by KLAS Research, which interviewed 46 physician-led ACO’s. An astounding 68% utilized a third-party vendor, opposed to an EMR vendor. Their primary reasons for turning to third-party vendors were related to reporting, care management, connectivity, and risk stratification.
On a scale of 1 to 9, electronic medical records were rated at a low 6.3. However, there were two EMR vendors that stood out—Epic was rated at 7.3, and eClinicalWorks was rated at 7.0.
Nonetheless, these numbers are not high enough for most practices.
When it came to selecting third-party vendors, physicians are turning to a wide range of vendors. The vendor mentioned with the greatest frequency was Optum, but was only utilized by 4 ACOs. Only seven of their vendors were mentioned more than once, but no other vendors where mentioned more than twice.
KLAS also found that ACO’s are most often physician-led and less by hospitals and integrated delivery networks. Nonetheless, electronic medical records are a key element for ACO’s involved in the MSSP created by the Affordable Care Act.
This leaves most ACOs managing both their EMRs, and their third party vendors. But, hopefully, analysts say, electronic medical records will soon evolve to the point where third party vendors can be eliminated.
