KLAS: EMR software will help providers meet meaningful use standards

Ambulatory EMR software will enable approximately 85 percent of healthcare providers to meet the Health IT Policy Committee’s proposed 2011 meaningful use standards, according to a report issued by KLAS, a healthcare market research firm.

The report sought to determine whether healthcare providers believe they will be able to meet the 2011 meaningful use guidelines currently under consideration by the federal government by way of their confidence levels in their ambulatory EMR software.

Coming out on top in terms of customer satisfaction with the ambulatory software products were vendors Epic Systems, NextGen Healthcare and athenahealth. Vendors that were given the least satisfactory ratings by their clients were SRSsoft and Amazing Charts.

In addition to the companies’ ability in helping healthcare facilities meet the proposed standards, the report focused on other EMR software concerns of the providers.

The report noted that lacking functional areas of the EMR software included:
  • The ability to share clinical data;
  • Difficulty with patient access to medical records and;
  • 17 percent of providers noted reporting as being “difficult” or “impossible” with their current EMR reporting tools.

The report also made mention of vendors Allscripts, Aprima Medical Software (iMedica), Cerner, ChartCare, DoctorsPartner, eClinicalWorks, Eclipsys, e-MDs, Epic, GE Healthare, gMed, Greenway Medical Technologies, HealthPort, Ingenix, LSS, McKesson, MED3000, MedcomSoft, PracticeOne, Praxis, Sage Software and Sevocity in terms of both high and low client satisfaction in various functionality areas.

“To help their clients meet the substantial reporting requirements for meaningful use, many vendors will need to increase the number and complexity of their canned reports, provide a standalone reporting application or add a third-party tool that can pull the required data,” offered report author Mark Wagner, director of ambulatory research for KLAS.

The digital transmission of pharmacy orders was another functional area KLAS focused on in the report, as most large pharmacy chains currently have the capability required to go digital and many smaller pharmacies chose to or simply cannot, said the report.

According to KLAS, Allscripts was the only vendor to have 100 percent of interviewed clients report the ability to digitally transmit qualifying orders. Greenway and e-MDs were also noted as achieving high functionality, with MED3000 noted as falling short in this area.

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