Doctors Mobile EHR Apps Preferences Revealed
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Surveys show overwhelming support of mobile EHR apps and indicate physicians think tablets and smartphones are the future of EHR access
EHRIntelligence recently reported on a Black Book Rankings user poll which was conducted as a focused follow up to the 2013 electronic health record study “Year of the Big EHR Switch” by writing, “An overwhelming majority of physician practices, hospitalists, and EHR vendors are all turning to mobile EHR applications to enhance their access to patient information both in the office and on the go.” The article quotes Doug Brown, Managing Partner of Black Book Research as saying, “A full 100% of practices participating in the poll expect EHR systems that allow access to patient data wherever physicians are providing or reviewing care. The vast majority of all survey respondents favored mobile applications that focus on the patient data and core parts of medical practice most needed when the physician is away from the office setting.”
A press release announcing the survey notes, “Although 89% of primary care and internal medicine doctors use smart phones to primarily communicate with staff, and 51% of clinicians use tablets to perform independent medical reference and internet research, less than 1% estimate they are maximizing use of their mobile clinical and business applications.” Black Book, which specializes in analyzing healthcare technology, also reports the most popular mobile devices used by physicians are iPhones, iPads/tablets, and Android Phones.
EHR programs with applications for tablets and smartphones give doctors the ability to access and update them even when they are out of the office. The best apps, according to the Black Book survey, had similar characteristics: “The ability to remotely review charts, update charts, assign tasks, view schedules and appointments, send messages to practice staff, lab orders and result review, permit electronic prescribing, patient encounter documentation, input vital signs and access EHR data after office hours.”
An earlier Vitera Healthcare survey came to many of the same conclusions as the Black Book poll, specifically the desire of physicians to have “the ability to review (93%) and update (87%) a patient’s chart and order prescriptions (86%).” Vitera created their program not to replace desktop EHR, but instead to take the most used applications and make them more readily accessible to physicians on the move.
In an article by InformationWeek Healthcare. Vitera CEO Matthew Hawkins acknowledges the advantages of creating mobile EHR technology, saying, “People should be able to work from any location. Physicians want access to the EHR and the patient information wherever they are because that's where they're providing care."
The results of these surveys show overwhelming support for mobile EHR applications. The ability to work anywhere and access patient information is essential in a world where physicians are constantly on the go. Healthcare technology developers are recognizing this trend as well, and can certainly expect to see even more improvements on the mobility of EHR in the future.