Health IT research firm KLAS Enterprises has delved into the murky and confusing world of ambulatory EMRs for specialty practices, producing its first-ever report that looks at EMR performance by physician specialty rather than practice size. For the most part, the analysis found some good systems in the 10 common medical specialties KLAS studied.
Only in cardiology (SRSsoft Hybrid Lite EMR, B-plus) and gastroenterology (gMed gCare Ambulatory EMR, B) did the top performer fail to earn a grade of at least A-minus, InformationWeek reports.
"Different practice specialties have different functional needs and create unique challenges for EMR vendors," Mark Wagner, director of ambulatory research at Orem, Utah-based KLAS, says in a press release. "The timelines and financial incentives involved with meeting meaningful use requirements make it more important than ever for providers to have access to good data to aid in vendor selection."
For the report, KLAS presented data three ways: vendor performance by specialty; vendor performance by grouped specialties (e.g., primary care, advanced care or multispecialty); and in vendor performance summaries.
"The report does not cover every vendor or specialty, but it's a good starting point in meeting the needs of the providers," Wagner adds. "The letter grades are a direct reflection of current vendor performance and the grading scale makes it easy to see how the vendors perform in a variety of specialties. Ideally, these grades open doors for meaningful provider discussions with vendors."
For further details:
- see this InformationWeek story
- view this KLAS press release
- request a copy of the KLAS report