Some 78 percent of family practice doctors say they are satisfied or very satisfied with the ability to customize their electronic health record software, according to The 2011 EHR User Satisfaction Survey, which appears in the July/August issue of Family Practice Management, and was reported on AAFP.org.
The survey, which appears in the July/August issue of FPM, rates 30 identified EHR systems on 17 dimensions, including ease of ordering lab tests, ease and effectiveness of documenting care, rapidity and ease of electronic prescribing, potential for qualifying for Medicare or Medicaid incentive dollars, training and support from the EHR vendor, and satisfaction level. Respondents ranked the ability to customize their EHR system at the top of their satisfaction list; 78 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with this aspect of their system. This was followed by electronic prescribing capability (70 percent) and electronic messaging function (69 percent).
Respondents were least satisfied with vendor support and training; only 39 percent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied in this area, 31 percent were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, and 25 percent were neutral on the question. In addition, just 49 percent of respondents said they were satisfied overall with their EHR system; 30 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied.
FPM Editor-in-Chief Robert Edsall listed several considerations physicians should take into account before deciding to invest in such a large purchase, including initial and ongoing costs of owning the system, workflow demands, system support of practice workflows, and compatibility with the physician’s practice management system. In addition, physicians need to consider whether an EHR system has been certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, or ONC. Certification by the ONC is a requirement for some of the EHR incentive programs offered by the federal government.
