Electronic health record (EHR) analytics yields lower user satisfaction than both analytics-specific platforms and in-house solutions, according to a new survey from data analytics company Definitive Healthcare.
The survey was sponsored by another company in this space, Dimensional Insight, and included responses from 108 healthcare leaders about their use of analytics solutions. Overall, 90 percent of healthcare organizations use the analytics in their EHR systems, with nearly 50 percent of organizations using EHR analytics exclusively or as their primary analytics tool.
However, despite widespread use, satisfaction with EHR analytics is lower than satisfaction with both analytics-specific platforms and in-house solutions, the data revealed. The survey also found that:
- On a scale of 0-10 (0=extremely dissatisfied, 10=extremely satisfied), users of EHR analytics report an average satisfaction rating of 5.58.
- Users of in-house solutions report an average satisfaction of 6.51, and analytic-specific platform users report an average satisfaction of 6.69.
EHR analytics users frequently reported technology challenges with their solutions, such as:
• 43 percent said reporting and querying of EHR analytics is slow.
• 36 percent said the component is not robust or advanced enough.
• 30 percent felt challenged with interoperability with other systems.
• 28 percent said EHR analytics lacks the visualization they need.
• 26 percent said the user interface is difficult to understand or use.
Conversely, top challenges with analytics-specific platforms were interoperability with other systems (59.4 percent) and cost (40.6 percent). Both current users (6.85 on 0-10 scale) and non-users (7.40) of these platforms felt the solution could add value to their ability to perform analytics.
“This survey demonstrates that while EHR companies claim to provide comprehensive analytics to their customers, hospitals and health systems feel these tools are lacking in functionality,” George Dealy, vice president of healthcare solutions at Dimensional Insight, said in a statement. “Analytics users find these tools slow, unadvanced, and not catered to their needs, while finding much greater satisfaction with analytics-specific platforms.”
