Becker's Hospital Review

June 2016 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/692604

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 87 of 107

88 HEALTH IT EHR Replacements Causing More Harm Than Good, Survey Finds: 10 Key Findings By Akanksha Jayanthi R egret and frustration appear to be common feelings among hospitals and health systems that switched EHR systems in the past three years. Black Book Market Research conducted a survey of more than 1,200 hospital executives and 2,100 user-level IT staff regarding expectations and outcomes of their EHR replacements, and the outcomes are heavily negative. Here are 10 key findings from the survey. 1. Eighty-seven percent of financially threatened hospitals regret the decision to change EHR systems. 2. Fourteen percent of hospitals that replaced their EHR since 2011 said the pace at which they are losing inpatient revenue threatens their ability to support the cost of their new EHR. "It was a risky decision as hospitals were facing the fact that they would not b back to their pre-EHR implementation patient volumes, inpatient or ambulatory, for at least another five years," said Doug Brown, managing partner of Black Book, in a news release. 3. More than six in 10 non-managerial IT staff said healthcare delivery was negatively affected due to the EHR replacement. 4. Nursing staff reported being highly affected by the EHR replacement, but had virtually no say in the replacement decision, according to the survey. While 90 percent of nurses said EHR replacements reduced their ability to effectively provide hands-on care, 96 percent of nurses said they were not included in EHR replacement planning. 5. However, just 5 percent of hospital leaders said the EHR replacement process had a negative impact on care, which Mr. Brown said suggests executives are reticent to address the issues. "In our experience polling, most executives will not admit they were oversold or that their IT decisions had adverse bearing on patient care," Mr. Brown said. "On the other hand, workflow changes and productivity issues may have added to the disappointment nurses felt aer being le out of replacement EHR product evaluations." 6. Executive leaders were concerned about their job security during EHR replacements, as 63 percent of executive-level respondents said they or their peers felt they were in "employment jeopardy." 7. A handful of manager- and executive-level respondents (7 percent) said they were fired or asked to resign due to cost or productivity effects of the EHR replacement. 8. Among hospital staff, 19 percent experienced intermittent or permanent layoffs due to implementation delays, cost overruns and underestimated budgets. 9. Clinician buy-in was oversold, according to 78 percent of non- physician executives, who said such buy-in touted by vendors never proliferated. Eighty percent of IT staff reported having to "coerce" network physicians to adopt replacement EHRs. 10. e vast majority (88 percent) of hospitals that replaced EHRs said they could not report any competitive advantages to attract physicians based on their new system. n Cerner Quarterly Revenue Grows 14%, Profit Up 36% By Akanksha Jayanthi T hough Cerner reported an increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the first quarter of 2015, revenue fell short of the company's guidance range. Cerner reported $1.14 billion in revenue in the first quarter, a 14 percent year-over-year growth from $99.6 million during the same time last year. Revenue was approximately $10 million below Cerner's guidance range, which the company partially attributed to a decline in low-margin technology resale revenue. Cerner posted $150 million in profit for the quarter, up 36 percent from the previous year's profit of $110 million. "Our first quarter results reflect a good start to the year," said Zane Burke, Cerner president, in an earnings statement. "We continue to have great success at gaining new clients, which is a reflection of a robust replacement market and our competitiveness. We also had success at selling solutions beyond the EHR, with record levels of revenue cycle sales and continued success at selling our cloud-based HealtheIntent population health solutions both inside and outside our EHR installed base." n athenahealth Reports 24% Revenue Growth in Q1 By Akanksha Jayanthi F or the first quarter of 2016, Watertown, Mass.- based athenahealth grew its revenue over the previous year's quarter and also reduced its total net loss for the quarter. The health IT vendor reported $256.1 million in revenue for the three months ended March 31, a 24 percent increase from the $206.4 million in revenue reported for the same time period last year. Additionally, athenahealth reported a net loss of about $800,000 in the first quarter of 2016, compared to a net loss of $8.8 million in the previous year's quarter. "athenahealth's first quarter performance indicates that we are executing as planned against our growth and innovation goals for 2016," said Kristi Matus, chief financial and administrative officer of athenahealth, in an earnings statement. "For example, we added 2,742 providers to our network, grew consolidated revenue by 24%, and continued to execute on extending our suite of network- enabled services into the inpatient setting." n

Articles in this issue

view archives of Becker's Hospital Review - June 2016 Issue of Becker's Hospital Review