KLAS: Ambulatory EMR users not ready for MU

More than two-thirds of ambulatory providers surveyed are not sharing medical records electronically with patients and nearly half have not implemented clinical decision support (CDS) rules—two key requirements for meaningful use—a KLAS report revealed.

Nevertheless, nearly 80 percent of ambulatory providers that have purchased an EMR are confident they will qualify for meaningful use (MU) in 2011, according to the report, “Ambulatory EMR: A KLAS Guide to Meaningful Use Success.”

The Orem, Utah market researcher interviewed 597 ambulatory providers using 25 different EMR systems for the report and measured vendor performance in eight key areas of meaningful use: progress notes; drug-drug and drug-allergy alerts; CPOE, data mining tools; ePrescribing; CDS; patient electronic access to medical records; and viewing active medication, allergy and problem lists.

Epic and Greenway customers appeared best-prepared to qualify for MU incentives this year, with high usage and high clinician satisfaction in the key areas measured, the report stated.

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