EHRs Save Canadian Docs $200 Million

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Ambulatory care clinics in Canada saved more than $200 million thanks to the benefits of EHR use.

Ambulatory care providers in Canada report saving $200 million yearly related to their EHR use. According to one report, “EMR use in this setting is advancing patient safety and improved continuity of care, with demonstrated value to hospitals, the health system, and to patients.”

Fierce Healthcare EHR reports that, to come to this conclusion, researchers used multiple data sources throughout the country, including research articles, surveys, evaluation reports, and key interviews. Surprisingly, in this process, they found:

• 33 percent of the clinics still using only paper
• 51 percent of clinics using a mix of paper and EHRs
• 16 percent were nearly paperless

In addition, 15 percent had adopted EHRs in the past year and 31 percent expect to in the next two to three years.

The providers noted benefits of EHR use included reduced adverse drug event related emergency department visits leading to hospitalizations, reduced wait times for treatment, and less time on chart management. In fact nearly half saw significant changes:

• 49 percent of clinics reduced duplicative lab tests
• 49 percent increased continuity of care
• 46 percent spent less time searching for information

Perhaps one of the most important factors, researchers estimated that the average benefit of EHR use for clinics was $200 million, and the benefit for patients was $4 million.

The report noted that hurdles to reaping these benefits were:

• system design and functionality gaps
• mixed paper/electronic records systems
• multiple logins and misalignments with clinical requirements
• workflow