AAFP Survey Shows Number of FPs Using EHRs Continues to Climb

Results from a recent AAFP survey indicate that the number of family physicians using electronic health records has risen consistently since the Academy began measuring members' EHR usage in 2003.

Half of the 459 respondents to the survey, which was mailed to a random sample of 4,000 active AAFP members in April 2007, said they had either fully implemented (37 percent) or were in the process of implementing (13 percent) an EHR system in their practices.

By comparison, in 2005, about 30 percent of AAFP EHR survey respondents reported that they were using EHRs in their practices, and only about 10 percent to 15 percent of Academy members had adopted the technology when AAFP conducted its initial EHR survey in 2003.

Family physicians are leaders in adopting EHRs, said Steven Waldren, M.D., director of AAFP's Center for Health Information Technology, and they should be proud of that fact. However, cautioned Waldren, family physicians must go beyond the initial step of putting the right technology into place. "Physicians need to be able to leverage that health information technology to improve the quality and safety of the health care they provide to their patients," he said.

According to the 2007 EHR survey, the physicians who were most likely to have a fully implemented EHR practiced in an urban area, had practiced for seven or fewer years, did not own their practices, and worked in practices with at least two other physicians.

Other highlights from the 2007 survey:

Regarding specific EHR features, 99 percent of respondents in the process of implementing and 99 percent of those planning to purchase an EHR said they were interested in using an EHR to

Ninety-eight percent of the same respondent groups said they were interested in using an EHR to trigger alerts for preventive patient services.

Only 60 percent of those same respondents said they would use an e-mail or secure messaging feature in an EHR, and just 49 percent indicated an interest in using an EHR for practice-based research.

Waldren said that given the current physician payment landscape, it wasn't surprising that the EHR features with virtually universal appeal dealt with managing basic patient data, such as problems, medications and allergies, and with improving efficiency and documentation in the practice.

"Our members are critically interested in improving quality and safety, but in the current environment, it is extremely difficult to invest in the needed infrastructure and process change needed to drive that continued improvement, especially in small and rural practices," said Waldren.