Health News
Understanding physicians' professional satisfaction is important because better patient care is a potential "downstream" benefit of satisfaction. The researchers said knowing reasons for dissatisfaction can lead to targeted interventions to address the issues,says the news release.
"Aside from viewing better patient care as a potential consequence of better physician professional satisfaction, it may be useful to think of physician dissatisfaction, when it is caused by perceived quality problems, as an indicator of potential delivery system dysfunction," says the report.
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Health News
Physicians say they dislike regulations on use of electronic health records, but they don't want to go back to paper records
Doctors say use of electronic health records is one factor contributing to physician dissatisfaction because it interferes with patient care, says a new study.
Surveyed physicians blame EHRs for reduced quality of care, saying that their daily interaction with "clunky" EHR systems contributes to their dissatisfaction, which is closely linked with their ability to provide quality care, reports Chris Kaiser of MedPage Today. The results were published in a study by the RAND Corp. and commissioned by the American Medical Association.
Physicians said the cumulative burden of rules and regulations affecting clinical practice, including ?meaningful-use? rules for EHRs, also detracted from professional satisfaction, says the report brief. These rules were created by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; providers must certify that they are ?meaningfully using? their EHRs by meeting established thresholds in order to qualify for the program's financial incentives. If providers accepting Medicare do not qualify by 2015, their Medicare payments will be reduced by 1 percent each year, says HealthIT.gov.
Despite their dissatisfaction with the regulations, physicians said they approved of the concept of EHRs, saying that their use has numerous benefits, including being able to remotely access patient information and improving in-practice communication, says the report. Only 20 percent of physicians said that practices should return to paper documentation.
?Physicians believe in the benefits of electronic health records, and most do not want to go back to paper charts,? said Dr. Mark Friedberg, a natural scientist at the RAND Corporation, in a news release. ?But at the same time, they report that electronic systems are deeply problematic in several ways. Physicians are frustrated by systems that force them to do clerical work or distract them from paying close attention to their patients.?
The problem is that many EHR programs aren't user-friendly. This problem should be addressed, says the report, to ease physician workflow and free up time for the physician to spend with the patient. Here are some of the complaints physicians had about EHRs:
Time-consuming data entry User interfaces that do not match clinical workflow Interference with face-to-face patient care Information overload Lack of health information exchange between EHRs EHRs are expensive, threatening practice finances
Surveyed physicians blame EHRs for reduced quality of care, saying that their daily interaction with "clunky" EHR systems contributes to their dissatisfaction, which is closely linked with their ability to provide quality care, reports Chris Kaiser of MedPage Today. The results were published in a study by the RAND Corp. and commissioned by the American Medical Association.
Despite their dissatisfaction with the regulations, physicians said they approved of the concept of EHRs, saying that their use has numerous benefits, including being able to remotely access patient information and improving in-practice communication, says the report. Only 20 percent of physicians said that practices should return to paper documentation.
?Physicians believe in the benefits of electronic health records, and most do not want to go back to paper charts,? said Dr. Mark Friedberg, a natural scientist at the RAND Corporation, in a news release. ?But at the same time, they report that electronic systems are deeply problematic in several ways. Physicians are frustrated by systems that force them to do clerical work or distract them from paying close attention to their patients.?
The problem is that many EHR programs aren't user-friendly. This problem should be addressed, says the report, to ease physician workflow and free up time for the physician to spend with the patient. Here are some of the complaints physicians had about EHRs:
Understanding physicians' professional satisfaction is important because better patient care is a potential "downstream" benefit of satisfaction. The researchers said knowing reasons for dissatisfaction can lead to targeted interventions to address the issues,says the news release.
"Aside from viewing better patient care as a potential consequence of better physician professional satisfaction, it may be useful to think of physician dissatisfaction, when it is caused by perceived quality problems, as an indicator of potential delivery system dysfunction," says the report.
- Hospitals Are Not Reporting Cases Of Harm To Patients; Electronic Health Records May Be Key To Solving The Problem
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News Hospitals aren't reporting cases in which medical care harmed a patient, making it difficult for providers to identify problems and fix them, according to a report to be released by the U.S. Department of...
- Electronic Patient Records May Not Save Money, Study Finds; Critics Question Methodology
Though officials tout otherwise, a study has found electronic health records do not cut costs "and may actually encourage doctors to order expensive tests more often," reports Steve Lohr for The New York Times. (Photo by Keith Srakocic for The Associated...
- Kentucky Center Helps More Than 1,000 Providers Get Electronic Health Records
The Kentucky Regional Extension Center has helped more than 1,000 health care providers transition to electronic health records, with specialists advising providers so they can meet the federal standards of "Meaningful Use." "Quick access to electronic...
- Electronic Health Records Are Helping Nurses Provide Better Care, Big Study Finds
Electronic health records are helping nurses get better health outcomes and are improving nursing care, the first big study on the subject has found. The study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing involved 16,000 nurses at 316...
- Electronic Health Records Are The New Frontier In Health Care
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News Just two years ago, the acronym EHR didn't mean much to many people. But since Congress passed the health-care reform law last year, physicians and hospitals have become intimately acquainted with it ? and patients...