HIE, EHR Familiarity Grows, But Provider Frustrations Remain

A newly-released survey by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago shows that while nearly all physicians have heard of the EHR Incentive Program, health information exchange, and other electronic data initiatives, frustration among participants remains high.  Sixty-eight physicians in five states were asked about their health IT activities, and most reported that they had been using an EHR system for more than a year, and believed the technology helped improve communication and manage patients proactively...

Among the top complaints about the state of health IT were the lack of interoperability between EHR systems, the cost of interfaces, cumbersome workflows, and doubts about the accuracy and usefulness of health information exchange, especially among small practices that rarely need to pull information from outside sources.  Concerns about Stage 2 Meaningful Use also abounded, with many uncertain about their capacity to meet the HIE requirements as well as the patient engagement criteria...