Despite a federal mandate to adopt electronic health records systems, many physicians remain woefully behind in how they receive patient data, researchers find in a February study titled The Role of Health Information Technology in Care Coordination in the U.S.
Over half of physicians regularly get patient information -necessary to coordinate patient care- from sources other than EHRs, the study concluded.
Researchers examined three sources of patient health information necessary for proper care coordination: 1) Patient history and reason for referral to outside provider; 2) Consultation with an outside provider; 3) Hospital discharge information.
The study found that more than half (54%) of physicians who regularly received information regarding care coordination did not receive that information electronically. While 64% of physicians surveyed said they routinely receive the results of a patient’s consultation with a provider outside of their practice, they were often just as likely to receive the patient information through non-electronic means as they were a an electronic health IT system.
Researchers found that providers using EHRs were slightly more likely to receive these records in a timely manner and to use the information in a way beneficial to the patient than physicians who relied on fax, telephone, or photocopies as sources of patient information.
The study was published in the Journal of Medical Care, in collaboration with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, HealthIT.gov, and AHRQ.gov.
To read the full study, please click here.