Large Senior Living Providers Outperforming Smaller Providers in EHR Adoption
Eighty percent of the nation’s largest 150 nonprofit senior living providers have adopted electronic medical record/electronic health record (EHR/EMR) systems, and nearly 30 percent are in the upper tiers of EHR adoption, according to the findings from two recent surveys.
Two recent studies by LeadingAge CAST, a technology research and resource at an association of nonprofit aging service providers, and Ziegler, an investment bank, gauges factors such as technology adoption among the country’s largest nonprofit providers.
Adoption of EHRs/EMRs is on the rise among the nation's largest nonprofit senior living organizations, and the survey results show that larger multi-site, multi-state organizations are leading the way, adopting EHRs at a higher rate and using more-sophisticated EHRs than long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers in general.
The 13th annual LeadingAge Ziegler 150 (LZ 150) survey, released at the end of 2016, found an 80 percent rate of adoption of EMRs/EHRs across all respondents' operations, an increase of 5 percent over the past two years. The LZ 150 ranks and analyzes the nation’s largest 150 nonprofit senior living providers of multi-site systems, single-site campuses, and government-subsidized multi-site housing. LeadingAge CAST partnered with Ziegler to update the technology adoption and staffing portion of the annual survey this past year.
In a recent follow-up survey, respondents who had EHRs to classify the sophistication of their current EHRs using CAST’s 7-Stage EHR Adoption Model.
Of LZ 150 members, nearly 30 percent are in the upper tiers of EHR adoption (Stages 6 and 7, at 12 percent and 17.9 percent respectively), compared to only 23 percent of LTPAC providers in general (Stages 6 and 7, at 18 percent and 5 percent respectively).
Similarly, approximately 20 percent of LTPAC providers in general are in the lower, less-sophisticated stages of adoption (Stages 1 and 2, at 6 percent and 14 percent respectively), compared to just about 4 percent among LZ 150 members (Stages 1 and 2, at 1.7 percent and 2.6 percent respectively).
“These results reaffirm that larger nonprofit organizations are ahead of their smaller peers, not only in terms of EHR adoption but also the level of sophistication, advanced functionalities, and health information exchange capabilities deployed,” the study authors wrote.
