Thirty-five percent of hospital executives say if they could go back in time, they would choose a different EHR vendor, and 56 percent say they seek out other health IT vendors to fulfill their needs rather than wait for their EHR vendor to provide a tool. Those are some of the findings from a recent survey of 100 hospital executives conducted by Sage Growth Partners, a Baltimore-based healthcare research and marketing firm. One-quarter of respondents were chief information officers.
Sage drew several conclusions from the third-quarter 2019 survey results, including that pessimism about EHR capabilities are pervasive and that loyalty is weakening. More than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents believe their EHR will fail to meet their future needs. Chief operating officers are the most pessimistic (67 percent) followed by CEOs (37 percent), and CFOs (34 percent).
If an organization’s EHR does not provide a tool they need, only 30 percent wait for the capability to be added to the EHR, and 14 percent say they create their own in-house solution.
The top three reasons executives look outside the EHR for an IT solution are: patient safety is jeopardized (No. 1); an outside solution promises greater return on investment (No. 2); and an outside solution promises greater quality (No. 3).
Sage found that investment outside the EHR is already widespread, especially in non-clinical areas. The top areas where hospitals have already invested in an IT solution outside of their EHR include data/analytics (73 percent), cybersecurity (70 percent), revenue cycle management (48 percent) and patient engagement (43 percent).
Over the next one to two years, hospitals’ top areas of health IT investment will include data/analytics (No. 1), operational efficiency (No. 2), patient engagement (No. 3), and revenue cycle (No. 4).
When asked to select the top digital health priority for their organization, most respondents (36 percent) selected patient self-scheduling. Just over a quarter (28 percent) selected care coordination; fewer selected patient access to clinical and financial records (15 percent), remote patient monitoring (12 percent), or disease management (9 percent).
Executives said they expect any solution provider to keep up with interoperability requirements. When asked how the recent CMS and ONC proposed rules on interoperability have affected IT investment plans, 48 percent said they simply expect their current vendors to provide solutions that meet the new rule requirements.
About one in five (22 percent) plan to hold off on investment decisions until they know more about the new rules, and 16 percent plan to accelerate investment. Only 13 percent reported already being in compliance with the new rules.
