Shift to Value-Based Care Brings New Desires for EHR Capabilities

Close-up of stethoscope on a stack of money - generated with Adobe Firefly

The transition to value-based care will require changes in the electronic health record (EHR) systems physicians are using. Meanwhile, documenting clinical quality and sharing data are 2 needs driving intentions to upgrade technology in health care practices over the next 18 months.

Health care information technology analyst Black Book Research, LLC, published results of its 2024 user surveys. It included evaluations of 120 EHR vendors and 18 performance indicators regarding the functionality of practitioner platforms offering EHRs, revenue cycle management (RCM), practice management, telehealth, interoperability, patient engagement, and analytics. “Updated EHR and RCM technologies to meet the evolving demands of this paradigm are leading to positive patient outcomes,” Black Book President Doug Brown said in a news release from News Wire.¹

But 82% of physicians said their EHR systems do not have technology to be evaluated based on factors such as patient satisfaction, clinical outcomes, adherence to evidence-based practices, and overall cost-effectiveness, according to Black Book. A full 85% of physicians confirmed BAIVECTOR (top pattern); Visual Generation (illustration) - stock.adobe.com their practice needs to be updated with better technology to collect, analyze, and report patient outcomes, costs, and quality of care.

Most physicians (54%) said their existing systems have been improved to involve patients in care plans, but 83% said the current technologies are inadequate for participating in value-based care plans. Almost all (96%) said they want artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning applications to enhance their EHRs as early as this year, and more than 60% said any upcoming EHR acquisitions or replacements will include AI utilities.

Physicians in primary care and aligned specialties offered high ratings for these systems: Elation, Practice Fusion EHR (Veradigm), Gehrimed (Netsmart), athenahealth, ModMed, and Greenway Health. Among medical groups with 10 or more physicians, 41% said they planned to upgrade or replace current practice management software in the next 18 months. They indicated they want features not in the current systems. “Two of the major drivers behind the technology transformations are in response to health care industry developments such as the need to document clinical quality to achieve optimized revenue benefits and the intensified requirements for data sharing to coordinate care to ready organizations for value-based care capitation,” mentioned in a Black Book Research news release.²

For full article and more, visit https://bit.ly/3UJPlg6

REFERENCES:

1. Specialty-driven platforms outperform broad-spectrum EHRs in top 2024 physician satisfaction ratings, 14th Annual Black Book Ambulatory Practice Surveys. News release. News Wire. January 30, 2024. Accessed February 21, 2024. https://tinyurl.com/39txe4uu

2. Physicians shift 2024 tech investments to robust practice management platforms with AI, analytics and value-based care support tools, Black Book survey. News release. Black Book Research. January 30, 2024. Accessed February 16, 2024. https://tinyurl.com/3a6rcd2z