Primary care providers who practice at community health centers spend less time in EHRs than counterparts who work elsewhere, a study in JAMA Network Open found.
The Nov. 22 report analyzed 307 primary care providers affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, both in Boston, at 31 different practices in 2021.
Besides working in a community health center, other factors that predicted lower EHR use included greater team collaboration on orders and the presence of certain clinic staffers such as pharmacy technicians, the researchers found. The results, they said, "highlight the importance of addressing EHR burden at a systems level."
Along with the two Boston hospitals, the study's authors were affiliated with Boston-based Harvard Medical School and Harvard Center for Primary Care and the University of California at San Francisco.