ACOs Need Better EMRs

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

KLAS survey finds EMRs aren’t meeting the needs of most ACOs

A new report from KLAS, Physician ACOs 2014: Variations on the Accountable Care Theme, has found EMRs aren’t meeting the needs of ACOs. In fact, two-thirds of the more than 45 ACOs interviewed said they use a third party vendor rather than an EMR vendor.

“With very few exceptions, EMRs are not meeting all ACO needs, causing many third-party products to be invited to the ACO discussion,” said report author Erik Bermudez. “As we look at where healthcare is headed and the rapid growth in the number of physician-led ACOs, we see that this area will only increase in importance. We want to put a spotlight on the enabling technology within these ACOs.”

Fierce EMR reports third-party vendors ranked higher than EMR vendors in all functional categories such as connectivity, care management, and reporting, and scored significantly higher in risk stratification. The report includes products from Advisory Board, Allscripts, eClinicalWorks, Epic, GE Healthcare, Medecision, Milliman, NextGen, Optum, and Phytel.

Fitting EMRs to meet the needs is critical, since more than 350 organizations have now joined the Medicare ACO program. Health IT Outcomes reported earlier in April that the Medicare program is continuing to grow.