EHRs Not Causing Lost Time With Patients
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Doctors say EHRs cause them to spend less time with patients, but a new study says doctors now are spending more time with patients than in previous years.
Health IT Outcomes reports on a study showing physicians with EHRs spend one third of an appointment looking at them rather than communicating with patients. A second study revealed physicians spend an average of 16 more minutes on data entry with EHRs than with paper records.
Now comes a study which reports EHRs may not be to blame when it comes to time spent with patients. Published by the American Journal of Managed Care, this most recent study indicates doctors actually spend more time with patients now than in previous years.
“One possible explanation for the increase in visit duration could be an increase in discussions between patients and their physicians. According to a National Research Corporation Survey, patients listed “willingness to explain things” as the most important factor in selecting a physician,” says the study.
EHR Intelligence reports total physician visits increased from 717 million to 994 million (up 39 percent) but the number of visits per physician decreased slightly due to a 42 percent increase in the number of practicing physicians.
A 2.1 minute increase per primary care visit and .12 minute increase for specialty consults was consistent across all groups.
“This study supports the conclusion that outpatient office visits have continued to get longer over time,” write researchers. Takeaway points of this study include:
● The increase in the length of visits remains present after controlling for factors such as increasing patient age or complexity, an increased number of procedures, or adoption of electronic medical records.
● Increasing length of visits should be expected to exacerbate the anticipated physician shortage in coming years, and may increase problems with access to care.
“While the number of physicians is growing, the number of visits to physicians is growing at an even greater rate and could overwhelm the number of physicians available. Consequently, it would be prudent to continue to monitor the durations of visits as a measure of determining if physicians are able to continue to provide the high standard of quality care that we have come to expect in the United States.”