Survey: Health IT adoption problematic for some physicians

Health IT adoption in medical practices remains problematic for many U.S. physicians, according to a Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey published on May 13.

Most physicians feel EHRs improve efficiency—in particular due to faster and more accurate billing and time savings through e-prescribing—and they also feel that non-adopters should be able to overcome cost and operational integration barriers to meet Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 1 requirements.

That being said, the survey found that nearly half of non-adopters have no plans in the works to adopt an EHR that meets MU criteria. The non-adopters “may be skeptical about clinical value and concerned about implementation costs,” according to the report. “As a result, care coordination via cross-practice clinical data sharing is not widespread. And the clinical impact of health IT on population health outcomes is not readily apparent in many communities.”

The survey also revealed that most physicians are slow to adopt online tools and digital health technologies in direct patient care, and do not use mHealth technologies, such as tablets or smartphones, for clinical purposes.

Harry Greenspun, MD, senior advisor at Deloitte, and his colleagues predict in the report that health IT skepticism is likely to change. “Powerful market forces exerted by health plans and consumers are accelerating health IT adoption,” according to the survey.

As health IT is used increasingly for coordination of care in risk-sharing relationships with players, its importance will grow. Moreover, federal performance-based incentives will fuel the need for health IT for demonstrated adherence to evidence-based practices and technology-enabled patient engagement, according to the report.

Physician non-adopters likely will be an issue for prospective business partners with whom they would share responsibility for improved care and efficiency, Greenspun et al wrote.