Author Name Kyle Murphy, PhD | Date September 25, 2013 | Tagged EHR Benefits, EHR Challenges, EHR Satisfaction, EHR Selection, EHR Selection Advice, EHR User Satisfaction, EHR Vendor Selection, EHR Vendors, Meaningful Use
No one likes to wait too long for results. Healthcare is no different. A new approach to providing real-time feedback is currently underway by the group that tracks trends in c selection and adoption and aiming to lessen the gap between conducting surveys and churning out results. Software Advice has recently launched its 2013 EHR Software UserView survey which provides results in real-time to users.
“When we originally thought about launching the survey, we looked at using a service like Polldaddy or SurveyMonkey,” says Melissa McCormack, Managing Editor at Software Advice. “But we couldn’t find a tool that gave us the flexibility we wanted to present the results in real time.”
This search eventually led the group to develop its own tool to achieve this real-time turnaround. “So we built it in-house, and I think the result is really novel. For past research we’ve conducted, respondents have expressed interest in seeing the final results — well, now they can see the results live, as soon as they submit their responses,” adds McCormack.
The survey comprises responses to questions about EHR user satisfaction, EHR benefits provided by these systems, EHR challenges posed by these systems, changes in users’ plans for investing in EHR software, and the devices EHR adopters use in order to access their EHR systems.
Currently, only a small cohort of respondents has responded to the survey, but Practice Fusion already has the early edge on other EHR vendors in terms of the top EHR systems used. Responses to questions about user satisfaction, however, have the company trailing behind Amazing Charts and gMed whose EHR user satisfaction is extremely positive. Those most satisfaction at present with their EHR are working in large practices with medium to small practices demonstrating mixed levels of satisfaction.
In terms of the functionalities delivered by their EHR systems, respondents listed easy access to records as the most satisfactory and the ability to coordinate with other providers as the least. On the subject of EHR challenges, the top gripe was the productivity losses following the adoption of an EHR system. It’s worth noting that achieving meaningful use and the ease with which respondents adopted an EHR system were seen as predominantly minor challenges.
It’s fitting that an industry looking to deliver actionable data in real-time to providers should have access to research working toward a similar end. “We want the UserView to monitor market trends, like the most popular systems, the biggest benefits and challenges, and the devices people are using to access their EHRs,” McCormack explains.
This doesn’t mean that researchers will no longer be taking a deeper look at the results. “We’ll be slicing some of the data to show how the responses vary by practice type and size, by EHR system, and so on. And we’ll be tracking this over time to identify trends,” McCormack observes.nformation about the survey is available here. source
