EHR use by pediatricians up, but few use fully functional systems

More pediatricians are using EHRs but few have fully functional EHRs and most lack pediatric-specific functions.

Those are the findings of a study published in Pediatrics, which was based on the responses of 1,621 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics conducted between July and December 2012.

Compared with the responses from a similar survey administered in 2009, 79 percent of pediatricians said they used EHRs in 2012 vs. 58 percent in 2009.

Thirty-one percent of pediatricians reported using EHRs with basic functionality, 14 percent reported using EHRs with full functionality; and 8 percent reported using EHRs with pediatric-specific functions, such as weight-based medicine dosage.

Pediatricians whose patient bases were comprised of at least 20 percent public health insurance beneficiaries were most likely to have EHRs, while independent and two-physician practices were least likely, according to the study.

Half of the respondents said EHRs are necessary to improve care while 32 percent did not agree with that. Respondents cited several barriers to EHR adoption including concerns that EHR systems would become obsolete, costs, productivity loss and return on investment concerns.

"It is critically important to the health maintenance of our children that pediatricians adopt EHRs, which support the basic practices of pediatrics," the researchers wrote, recommending more research on the best practices and effects of EHR use among pediatricians to develop improved systems that will increase pediatrician's confidence in EHRs.