Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds

Vendor Switching Takes Root

If 2013 was the "year of the great EHR vendor switch," then this year is the shake-out when practices turn to new solutions, especially those that are able to interface with other networking schemes, adopt to mobile devices, and keep pace with accountable care changes.

“EMR vendors essentially sold a product that didn’t meet expectations,” said Dr. Michael Murphy, CEO of ScribeAmerica, the nation's most frequently used medical scribe company. “Promises that company ‘X’ EMR is very intuitive, will save you time and improve your revenue failed to materialize.”

A KLAS report showed that providers are leaving their vendors at an unprecedented rate as EMR solutions fail to meet rising expectations in small physician practices. “These practices are increasingly finding themselves in a quandary,” said Erik Bermudez, report author. “They have smaller budgets and smaller support staffs, yet they have the same functionality needs as the large organizations.”

Physicians complain of staying after their shift to complete charts or direct care suffering as providers are buried in a computer, versus caring for patients.

The "Meaningful Use incentives created an artificial market for dozens of immature EHR products," Brown said. "One-size-fits-all" systems don't fit many practices--especially those of specialists--and cannot continue to satisfy buyers without features that can be customized to the client's needs, he added.

Medical practices were under pressure to implement EMRs last year in order to comply with government regulations and qualify for the financial incentives offered, added Dr. Fred Davis, co-founder of ProCare Systems. But small practices did not have the internal resources to research or trial the systems adequately and had to rely on the venders for information. 

“Now that the physicians have been working with the systems they purchased in the day-to-day operations of their practices they have come to discover their strengths and weaknesses,” said Davis.

Of those considering changing vendors, 51% were considering switching from one web-based or software-as-a-service option to another; 12% were considering a move from a web-based or software-as-a-service product to an on-premise solution; and 19% were looking at moving from an on-premise product to a web-based or software-as-a-service option. Only 6% were thinking of moving from one on-premise version to another.

“A practice must recognize that they aren’t just buying a software package; they are selecting a partner. A strong supplier will help a practice throughout the “EHR journey” from selection, through deployment, ongoing support, and regular product updates,” said Rob Pickell, Chief Marketing Officer at Kareo.

Market research partner Doug Brown of Black Book said that Meaningful Use incentives created an artificial market for dozens of immature EHR products, including "one size fits all" EHRs that customizable or bespoke tools and were inflexible in operation.

In a Black Book study of some 17,000 active EHR adopters, of EHR users considering a system switch, 80% said the solution does not meet the practices' individual needs; 79% indicated that the medical practice had not adequately assessed the group's needs before choosing the EHR; 77% of respondents cited solution design as ill-fitted for their medical practice or specialty; and 44% said vendors have been unresponsive to requests. 

"The high performance vendors emerging as viable past 2015 are those dedicating responsive teams to address customers’ current demands," said Brown.

But before moving to another vendor, a practice needs to evaluate their cost benefit, warned Murphy of ScribeAmerica. “How much are you currently losing in productivity?  Then compare it to the cost of learning a new system and training your staff to use if efficiently.”

Murphy has a grim view of the future – it will be status quo unless an Epic, Cerner or Meditech actually develop a product that is intuitive to each specialty that they are deployed to. “A must for developing responsive EMRs is actually getting physicians who run busy practices involved, from the ground up.”

Read 7481 times
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Visit other PMG Sites:

PMG360 is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal data we collect from our subscribers/agents/customers/exhibitors and sponsors. On May 25th, the European's GDPR policy will be enforced. Nothing is changing about your current settings or how your information is processed, however, we have made a few changes. We have updated our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to make it easier for you to understand what information we collect, how and why we collect it.