EHR vendors still fall short in interoperability and data integration
Researchers from KLAS Arch Collaborative surveyed more than 500,000 clinicians about their views on electronic health record interoperability, finding that third-party integration was the worst aspect of their EHR user experience and “the most requested solution by clinicians.”
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
The researchers studied feedback from physicians and nurses at more than 300 healthcare institutions, looking at end-user satisfaction with external integration, needed improvements in the way clinicians receive external patient data, and best practices from successful healthcare institutions.
When specifically asking 33,000 clinicians about their experiences using patient data from third-party organizations, 47% said they could not easily access patient data from third-party organizations through their EHRs, KLAS said in the new report. reportEHR interoperability.
They often have to filter through duplicated data, 47% of clinicians also said. The external data lacks accuracy, relevance and accessibility.
“EHRs can interpret information about vaccinations differently, for example. If we are not careful, we can incorrectly document that a patient has received a vaccine,” one nurse told KLAS.
Some healthcare institutions also say that standards for sharing government data are inadequate, the researcher said. While most EHR vendors have improved connectivity to national record exchanges, EHR vendors are not consistently facilitating the necessary data sharing.
“Healthcare institutions often feel disempowered to improve interoperability for their physicians and patients,” the researchers said.
During the study, executives from leading healthcare institutions presented best practices and advised their colleagues to begin sharing data by forming an interoperability governance committee, appointing dedicated staff, and then coordinating with key data sharing partners.
“It can be overwhelming to share data across the country, but in a region, there are typically 10-20 health systems that account for over 90% of the patient data shared,” said one Chief Medical Information Officer. “Sharing data across those health systems is feasible.”
The third step is defining what successful sharing looks like, which “enables deep data extraction,” the KLAS researchers said in the report.
It is critical that electronic health record vendors are involved as much as possible in establishing data sharing settings, they add.
Another CMIO told KLAS that industry standards are too broad and that “far too much responsibility lies with healthcare organizations to solve the enormously complex problem of data mapping,” the researchers said.
Organizations should train clinicians to find external information, which leads to EHR satisfaction. This way, they can ensure that clinicians can find the mapped data.
“Of the clinicians who feel they are well trained to leverage external data, 72% agree that their EHR expects external integration. Of the clinicians who feel they are not well trained, only 26% agree that their EHR expects external integration,” the researchers said.
THE BIGGER TREND
Two years ago, KLAS researchers found that EHR satisfaction among nurses declined during the pandemic, but that EHR satisfaction among physicians varied by specialty.
A more recent 20-month study of post-pandemic burnout, published in January, found that health systems that successfully addressed daily irritation factors in the EHR were able to reduce burnout among clinicians.
Once staffing levels were improved and leadership became more attuned to clinical staff concerns, health systems could focus on fixing inefficiencies that increase administrative frustrations, the researchers said in the previous trends study.
“When it comes to the efficiency of EHRs, physicians (and some nurses) report doing more work with fewer resources,” KLAS researchers said.
“If organizations are unable to hire more staff to balance the workload, they can instead ensure that clinicians receive adequate EHR training and that their workflows are optimized.”
ON THE RECORD
“Regardless of the EHR vendor, interoperability is a major pain point for clinicians, adding to an already painful EHR experience,” KLAS researchers said in the new report.
“Of the 11 metrics used to calculate the Net EHR Experience Survey, clinicians are the least satisfied with third-party integration, with only 44% of respondents agreeing that their EHR provides the expected integration with third-party organizations.”
Andrea Fox is Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email address: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.