New survey shows decline in physician satisfaction with EHR systems

Physician satisfaction with electronic health record (EHR) systems has dropped by 44% over the last 5 years, with more than half of respondents reporting dissatisfaction with their EHR systems in a recent survey.

AmericanEHR Partners last year conducted online surveys of physicians in conjunction with ACP, the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The majority (54%) of 940 respondents indicated that they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their EHR system overall, while 22% were satisfied and 12% were very satisfied.

A similar survey was conducted previously by AmericanEHR Partners, a free online resource founded by ACP and Cientis Technologies to aid with the selection, implementation, and effective use of health information technology and electronic health records. In a survey 5 years ago, the majority of respondents said they were overall satisfied or very satisfied with their EHR systems, with 39% being satisfied and 22% being very satisfied, according to the report.

In the current survey, physicians were asked about how their EHR system improved costs, efficiency, or productivity. In each measure, either close to or more than half of all respondents responded negatively. For example, 72% thought their EHR system's ability to decrease workload was difficult or very difficult, 54% found their EHR system increased their total operating costs, 43% said they have yet to overcome the productivity challenges related to their EHR system, and 42% thought their EHR system's ability to improve efficiency was difficult or very difficult.

The majority (80%) of respondents who were dissatisfied with their EHR systems had used their system for less than 5 years, whereas 43% of those who were satisfied had used their system for more than 5 years, according to the report. It appears to take at least 3 years for respondents to overcome initial challenges and receive many of the benefits of their EHR systems, the report's authors stated. “Without exception, the longer that respondents had used their EHR system the more likely that they were to report that it was having a positive impact or that a specific feature was easy to use,” they wrote.

A total of 36,318 physicians were invited to complete the survey (13,616 from ACP, 18,000 from the AMA, and 4,702 from the AAFP). The average response rate was 2.6%, although rates differed across professional societies. “The relatively low response rate should be taken into account when interpreting the results of this report,” the authors noted.

“While EHR systems have the promise of improving patient care and practice efficiency, we are not yet seeing those effects” said Shari Erickson, MPH, vice president of ACP's Division of Governmental Affairs and Medical Practice, in a College press release about the survey.