EHR Usage Statistics

Health information technology has experienced an explosion in the last several years, with the biggest expansions in EHR usage statistics. Even a decade ago, the majority of American doctors updated their patient records by hand in color-coded files. Today, however, the majority of doctors are now making use of electronic health records, or EHRs. To help give you an idea of what is going on in healthcare information technology today, we’ve collected some of the latest EHR usage statistics and what they mean for the future of healthcare information technology.

EHR Adoption Statistics
The adoption of EHR systems has steadily grown over the past several years. From 2008 to 2015, the adoption of EHR systems among office-based physicians nearly doubled from 42 to 87 percent. Across the industry as a whole, 67 percent of all providers across all specializations reported that they used an EHR system as of March 2017, with internal medicine, pediatrics, nephrology, family practice and urology exhibiting the highest adoption rates.
Healthcare information technology specialists expect that these numbers will continue to rise, especially as web-based EHR systems gain traction and younger doctors enter the field.

EHR Cost Statistics
The healthcare industry as a whole has shown an increased interest in spending money on electronic systems. In 2014, 67 percent of providers expected to increase their IT spending by 10 percent or more, and in 2015, projections showed that providers would expand their spending on electronic systems by 88 percent to an estimated $37 billion. For many, the focus was on their EHR systems.

Despite this willingness to spend money on electronic systems, many healthcare providers still paid much more than they expected. On average, an on-premise EHR can cost $40,000 just to set up, not including maintenance costs, and healthcare providers spend an average of $117,672 per year on EHR software and end up paying 37 percent more than they expected to contribute.

These costs aren’t leveling out, either — as of 2017, 45 percent of providers reported that they had spent over $100,000 on an EHR system, and 98 percent attributed their increased IT spending to the costs of their EHR system.
Orion offers a better solution, with a web-based EHR system that minimizes your costs instead of increasing them. With the AccuCare system, your organization benefits from more accurate patient information, more accessible records and reduced software and hardware costs. If you’re interested in reducing your EHR costs, call 800-324-7966 for a FREE consultation and demonstration.

EHR Functionality Statistics
Despite spending so much money on their EHR systems, 67 percent of providers reported that they were dissatisfied with the functionality of their EHR systems, and 40 percent of hospital executives reported either dissatisfaction or indifference toward their current EHR systems. For many, it seems, problems lie in on-premise EHR system and their limited functionality, both of which can be solved by a web-based system like Orion’s AccuCare.

Regarding functionality, 51.6 percent of providers reported that their top criteria for selecting an EHR was connectivity, while 43.2 percent said that cost was their primary concern. Orion addresses both of these needs, with a system that is cost-effective and highly functional, featuring all of the capabilities needed by mental and behavioral health clinics.

Learn More
If you’re interested in learning more about Orion Healthcare Technology’s AccuCare system and how it can help your practice streamline its workflows and maximize its patient care, take a look at the system for yourself! Learn more about Orion’s comprehensive, easy-to-use EHR system and how it can integrate into your organization by calling 800.324.7966 – we’ll give you a FREE consultation, demonstration and estimate for our web-based solutions.