The latest trend in physician technology appears to be cloud-based EHRs, according to new findings published by Black Book Rankings.
From 2012 to the second quarter of 2015, satisfaction with cloud-based EHRs meeting or exceeding expectations among physicians in small practices grew from 13 percent to 81 percent.
Here are 11 more things to know about cloud-based EHRs and physician satisfaction.
1. The growing adoption of cloud-based EHRs for small physician practices appears to be most pronounced in urban settings, growing from 60 percent in 2013 to 82 percent in 2015.
2. Adoption in rural settings has remained stagnant since 2013 at around 20 percent.
3. The majority (91 percent) of physicians in solo practice in non-urban settings said that despite the reported benefits of cloud-based EHRs, fear of Internet outages prevents them from adopting them.
4. Nearly eight in 10 small medical practices said pricing is the main factor when purchasing a cloud-based EHR. Nearly half of small practice that switched EHRs between June 2014 and May 2015 said the financial burden of changing EHRs has left them in an unstable financial position.
5. Thirty-eight percent of small practice physicians have moderate to serious concerns about the security and privacy of cloud-based EHRs, compared to 81 percent of physicians using server-based EHRs.
6. However, 92 percent of small practice physicians that switched to a cloud-based EHR feel their chances of a major breach are lowered.
7. Approximately half of physicians who switched to a cloud-based EHR report fears of system downtime have increased.
8. Of solo practice physicians, 51 percent said their productivity has increased after switching to a cloud-based EHR.
9. Black Book Rankings projects the healthcare cloud market to reach $3.8 billion in the U.S. by 2020.
10. The top ranked vendor for cloud-based EHRs (ie. Highest ranked for customer satisfaction in small and solo physician practices for 2015) was Praxis EMR, based in Canoga Park, Calif.
11. The rest of the top 20 ranked vendors were ADP AdvancedMD, Allscripts, AmazingCharts, athenahealth, Azalea, Bizmatics, CareCloud, CureMD, drChrono, eClinicalWorks, e-MDs, Greenway, HealthFusion, Kareo Modernizing Medicine, NexTech, Practice Fusion, Quest Care 360 and SRS Soft.
More articles on EHRs:
Patient perceptions of data privacy, security: 5 key findings
AHA urges 90-day reporting, immediate enhanced flexibility for MU2
Dr. John Halamka: 4 thoughts on MU, information blocking and interoperability