KLAS Ranks EHR Usability, Interoperability

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Is your EHR a top performer? KLAS asked 200 healthcare professionals to rank their systems based on ease of use, interoperability, information sharing, and customer service and the results are in.

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

According to a recent report from KLAS, finding an EHR that allows users to find records easily is difficult. KLAS interviewed more than 200 healthcare professionals to uncover the top EHR vendors based on interoperability, information sharing, ease of connectivity and customer service.

iHealth Beat reports athenahealth's EHR was the easiest to use, delivering “both simple and very complex connections” without passing along much additional cost to consumers. additionally, they found that Cerner was the most effective vendor in terms of complex connections, but it had comparably higher costs. Although Epic was rated the highest for interoperability, its system also was rated as more difficult to use.

When it came to connectivity and interoperability, vendors who performed at the bottom of the ranks were:

● Allscripts

● eClinicalWorks

● Greenway

● MEDITECH

● NextGen Healthcare

The report also notes almost all providers who responded were willing to share information, but 82 percent said their main competitor would be willing to share information.

“We are shining a light on how both providers and vendors are committed to solving interoperability problems and proactively taking opportunities to improve healthcare,” said KLAS founder, Kent Gale in a press release. “Having connectivity that allows information to be exchanged easily and without disruption is vital to the patient’s care. We must enjoy that level of sharing as soon as possible. It’s time to make that happen through industry collaboration around a unified goal.”