CDW: EHR adoption could cost $120K per physician
Inclusive of equipment, software, services, training time and potential lost revenue, physician practices may face total EHR adoption costs of $120,000 per physician, according to a report from CDW Healthcare.
The speed with which a practice fully implements the EHR and shifts to the new, accelerated workflow is critical to reducing the overall cost of adoption, the Vernon Hills, Ill., company added.
The report is based on a survey of 200 physician practices throughout the U.S. that have not yet adopted an EHR, as well as secondary research on physician practice workflow and CDW's internal data on EHR tools.
Overall, the report found that physician practices are focused on the costs associated with EHR adoption, citing hardware/software costs (66 percent), time associated with staff training (52 percent) and workflow readjustment (43 percent) as their primary concerns. Although physicians' top concern is hardware and software, the study found that year one expenses associated with that category of cost will likely make up just 12 percent of total EHR adoption costs.
In contrast, CDW found that lost revenue will be a far larger drain on physician practices than hardware and software costs. Physician practices said they expect patient encounters to fall by an average of 10 percent in the first year, equating to a total average revenue loss of more than $100,000 per physician. Although 10 percent is the survey average, nearly 40 percent of respondents said they expect patient encounters to fall by 25 percent or more in the first year.
Critically, while physician practices expect to reduce patient encounters in the year of adoption, an EHR-enhanced workflow will continue to enable more patient encounters in all subsequent years, according to CDW. Using a measure of a 15 percent increase in patient encounters, the study estimates that practices may be able to gain as much as $151,000 per physician per year in new revenue once adoption is complete.
Based on a snapshot of the average physician practice's IT infrastructure, the report also identified opportunities to either speed adoption or reduce costs:
To read the report in its entirety, click here.
The speed with which a practice fully implements the EHR and shifts to the new, accelerated workflow is critical to reducing the overall cost of adoption, the Vernon Hills, Ill., company added.
The report is based on a survey of 200 physician practices throughout the U.S. that have not yet adopted an EHR, as well as secondary research on physician practice workflow and CDW's internal data on EHR tools.
Overall, the report found that physician practices are focused on the costs associated with EHR adoption, citing hardware/software costs (66 percent), time associated with staff training (52 percent) and workflow readjustment (43 percent) as their primary concerns. Although physicians' top concern is hardware and software, the study found that year one expenses associated with that category of cost will likely make up just 12 percent of total EHR adoption costs.
In contrast, CDW found that lost revenue will be a far larger drain on physician practices than hardware and software costs. Physician practices said they expect patient encounters to fall by an average of 10 percent in the first year, equating to a total average revenue loss of more than $100,000 per physician. Although 10 percent is the survey average, nearly 40 percent of respondents said they expect patient encounters to fall by 25 percent or more in the first year.
Critically, while physician practices expect to reduce patient encounters in the year of adoption, an EHR-enhanced workflow will continue to enable more patient encounters in all subsequent years, according to CDW. Using a measure of a 15 percent increase in patient encounters, the study estimates that practices may be able to gain as much as $151,000 per physician per year in new revenue once adoption is complete.
Based on a snapshot of the average physician practice's IT infrastructure, the report also identified opportunities to either speed adoption or reduce costs:
- Upgrade vs. replace: On average, physician practice workstations are less than three years old, and 20 percent are less than one year old. As such, practices may achieve better results by upgrading existing workstations with system memory, drive space, backup processes and wireless access points to extend the lifecycle of existing workstation deployments
- Protect yourself: Thirty percent of respondents did not use antivirus software and 34 percent did not use network firewalls. To protect IT investments and patient information, physician practices moving to EHRs will need to significantly improve their security and business continuity profiles
- Train: Twenty-two percent of survey respondents indicate that they will spend at least 10 hours training staff to use the new EHR system. Because training programs are included in the cost of many EHR software packages, practices should take advantage of every training opportunity as a way of accelerating adoption, according to CDW.
To read the report in its entirety, click here.