Electronic Health Reporter

I’ve always been a sucker for trivia. In most cases, the information that sticks in my head is useless and, well, trivial. People — including those that know me best — often shoot me quizzical looks and wonder where the hell I came up the crap that pops out of my mouth. Most of the time I shrug and respond with the I’m-so-stupid-sorry-for-breaking-the-silence, “What.”

But, in healthcare, this kind of mindset set has a place; maybe it’s just a data place of mind sort of thing. Nevertheless, I’m comforted by all of the (sometimes) useful technology information floating around, and today, I’m proud to share a kindred spirit at HIT Consultant, who posts an incredible plethora of devourable data worthy of sinking your teeth into in the piece, “80 Mind Blowing EMR and Meaningful Use Statistics & Trends.”

Feel free to check out the full course, but for a primer, let’s dig in here.

• According to the list, 75 percent of patients are willing to go online for health information. Not surprised by this one bit. I’d argue the number is low. Check out this article by American Medical News for more on the subject. We spend our lives online wherever we can get online. If we have access to the web, we’ll be on it; this isn’t necessarily mind blowing, just trivia, and a reality.

• Next up, financial troubles at the practice level. Interesting topic, but given the conversations I’ve had with physicians I’m not surprised. More than 40 percent of physicians have financial troubles, and given the overwhelming reform practices face, it’s no wonder the private practice is being ambushed.

• More than 70 percent of hospitals employ full-time staff to scan charts into their electronic systems. WOW! Seriously? This doesn’t sound efficient to me. Someone please explain.

• “Solo practitioners are particularly unlikely to be using EHRs or to have plans to implement them. Also, older physicians are less likely to be pushing for adoption of HIT.” Again, no surprise, though, it’s sad. Truth is, both of these segments will be out of private practice in the next three years under the current healthcare structure. No joke.

• Just a bit more than 20 percent said their EHRs made them more efficient and only 6 percent said their making more money with their systems. Again, not surprised by this data. These are PR talking points EHR vendors push to sell their systems. Pay attention, you’ll probably see some CEO on this site talking the same points sometime soon.

• Apparently, according to a study reposted by Becker’s Hospital Review, 91 percent of physicians want/are interested in mobile EHRs. I don’t buy it. I’d like to see the data, but I bet it’s a flawed report. Physicians are too concerned with their in-practice solutions, mandates and reform. We haven’t tipped that far in the mobile direction yet. Not possible; just another PR talking point from a vendor.

• “Each patient visit requires approximately 10 to 13 pieces of paper.” That is shocking.

• Top 5 EMR vendors by number of users are:
o eClinicalWorks
o Epic
o McKesson
o Care 360
o Allscripts
Care 360 is in the Top 5? Hmmm.

• The feds believe they’re on the hook for more than $20 billion of taxpayer’s money for meaningful use before the program wraps. This is one of those facts that I’m not surprised by, but I am, if you know what I mean. It just makes me look side ways.

And the list goes on and on, some shocking pieces of trivia, some less so. The point is there’s much to consume, some more positive than others. But, HIT Consultant does make a great point: a lot of the data available doesn’t point to a land of milk and honey. On the contrary, there’s a lot of disappointment in health IT.

There’s apparently much to learn and much to improve. Everything is yet to be perfect, while some things are wonderfully, wonderfully good.