EHR Adoption Booms Among Solo Physicians
The future of the healthcare industry indisputably lies in technology. While the majority of large health practices and organizations have embraced the benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), solo physicians have been slower to adapt. However, as part of an on-going study, SK&A have revealed a significant shift in adoption rates among solo physicians and small practices, increasing by 11.4% between 2013 and 2014.
As a leading provider of healthcare information solutions and research, SK&A has closely monitored and measured the medical office adoption rates of EHRs from a database of over 270,000 U.S. medical sites. A recent press release revealed a 61% overall EHR adoption rate among healthcare professionals with involvement increasing alongside the number of physicians at each practice, as illustrated below:
- For solo physicians EHR usage increased from 42.3% to 53.7%.
- For offices of 26 or more doctors EHR usage increased from 75.9% to 77.5%.
As part of the release Jack Schember, Sr. Director of Marketing for SK&A stated:
“What has accelerated the adoption of electronic health records among smaller practices is the availability of more than 450 different solutions to fit their practice needs, size and budget.”
The boom in EHR adoption for solo physicians coincides with growing optimism for cloud technology across the healthcare industry. As reinforced in a report by Forrester earlier this year, ‘The overarching trend is to integrate and move information to the right person or system at the right time — whether it’s a provider’s staff, external service provider, or the consumer (i.e., the patient or prospect).’ To that end, in the report, Forrester outlines 5 vitally important practises:
1. Clean up data
2. Invest in customer and patient insight
3. Embrace mobile
4. Use emerging technology
5. Build cloud-based business networks
Regardless of size, the process of digitizing, storing and sharing health records needs to be carefully considered by healthcare professionals across the industry. When using external services, these professionals should choose providers who can guarantee HIPAA compliancy while offering effortless usability and accessibility.
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