Healthcare organizations have adopted national interoperability networks Carequality and CommonWell Health Alliance as some of the primary methods for sharing patient records, but the usability of the shared data varies greatly depending on the EHR each organization uses, according to KLAS Research.
For its Interoperability 2020 Acute and Ambulatory report, KLAS examined the usability of shared patient data among healthcare organizations using connections to Carequality and CommonWell's interoperability networks. Data sharing methods such as health information exchanges and custom interfaces are not included in the report.
KLAS analyzed feedback from three to six of each major EHR vendor's customers to determine overall usability of shared data. Data sharing capabilities considered included flow of outside data, automatic patient matching and progress notes.
Here are the overall usability of shared data scores based on a five point-scale and listed by EHR vendor:
- Epic: 4.25
- NextGen Healthcare: 4.25
- Cerner: 3.75
- Athenahealth: 2.75
- Meditech: 2.25
- eClinicalWorks: 2.25
- Greenway Health: 1.5
- CPSI: 1.25
- Allscripts: N/A; too few customers to validate usability experience
- Medhost: N/A; not connected to either CommonWell or Carequality
Over the past 18 months, numerous EHR vendors increased their percentages of customers connected to CommonWell and/or Carequality. Here's a comparison between the vendors of their customer adoption in 2018 and in 2020.
- Epic: 90 percent in 2018 to 97 percent in 2020
- Athenahealth: 96 percent in 2018 to 97 percent in 2020
- Cerner: 33 percent in 2018 to 66 percent in 2020
- eClinicalWorks: 15 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in 2020
- NextGen Healthcare: 3 percent in 2018 to 33 percent in 2020
- Meditech: 1 percent in 2018 to 2 percent in 2020
- CPSI: 15 percent in 2018 to 15 percent in 2020
- Greenway Health: 10 percent in 2018 to 10 percent in 2020