​​Although dissatisfaction with electronic health records (EHRs) remains common, only a small percentage of physicians say they plan to leave their current EHR vendor according to a new survey from Reaction Data. Most reports about EHR satisfaction are generated by talking to executives and information technology staff, the article said, which often leaves out the opinions of those who use the EHR on a daily basis. The authors thus conducted a survey of 889 physicians, 57% of whom work in ambulatory clinics and 43% of whom work in acute care. The results showed that just 16% of those working in ambulatory facilities and 11% of those in acute-care facilities plan to leave their current vendors. Epic was the most commonly used EHR vendor among those working both in acute care (61% reported using it) and ambulatory settings (22% reported using it). Of those planning to leave their vendors, the most common replacement vendors were Epic (33%) and Cerner (18%). The survey also provided a snapshot of how users feel about some of the top EHR vendors. Almost half (45%) of Epic's customers reported satisfaction with the vendor. This percentage was much lower for Cerner, with just 22% of users saying they are happy with the company. The lowest percentage of respondents reporting satisfaction came among those that use Allscripts (16%), Greenway (16%), and Meditech (15%).

HRC Recommends: EHR screen-time is a frequent complaint of physicians. When physicians spend more time looking at the computer screens than communicating directly with their patients, patients and physicians may feel alienated from each other. Physicians may become distracted from their patients when instant messages or alerts cannot be ignored or when a multitude of check boxes must be managed. Risk managers may wish to engage their facility's IT department to survey physician satisfaction with their EHR systems to determine what problems physicians experience and what improvements may be feasible. Risk managers should ensure that physicians are appropriately trained to use the EHR and that clear policies are in place that encourage face-to-face communication with patients. Risk managers should consider visiting care settings to ensure that the layout of the patient examination room, screen placement, and workflow patterns facilitate communication between the physician and the patient.​​