Only 51% of ophthalmologists were satisfied with the effectiveness of using electronic medical records to access and store images and only 50% were satisfied with using automated records for maintaining and updating patient care notes.

More ophthalmologists are using electronic medical records, but many find them wanting.

There are about 24,000 ophthalmologists in the U.S. and a new study from the University of California Davis says about 72%, or 17,280, of the eye specialists are now using electronic medical records systems in their practice or health network. That’s up from 47%, or about 11,280 ophthalmologists, in a similar study conducted in 2011, says Dr. Michele Lim, vice chair and medical director for the UC Davis Eye Center.

Dr. Michele Lim

But even though they are using electronic health records more often, more ophthalmologists also report that they are losing money and productivity in doing so. The 348 eye specialists who participated in the study on average had been in practice for about 22 years and using electronic medical records for about 5.3 years.

The use of electronic health records is up for managing patient care notes and treatment documentation and for storing images. But only 51% of ophthalmologists were satisfied with the effectiveness of using electronic medical records to access and store images and only 50% were satisfied with using automated records for maintaining and updating patient care notes and related documentation, while 27% say they are dissatisfied.

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“The surveys reveal deepening dissatisfaction with utilizing EHR,” Lim says. “Despite their dissatisfaction, however, only one-third of ophthalmologists surveyed said that they would return to paper records if they could, and more than half said they would not.”

Although the survey didn’t collect specific patient revenue or financial information, 35% of ophthalmologists say electronic health records did not increase per-patient revenue and 41% noted that revenue had declined as a result of electronic health records systems.

Ophthalmologists cited inadequate access to data and the poorer quality of data in electronic vs. paper records as the chief reasons why the technology failed to increase patient revenue or caused it to decline. Many ophthalmologists also felt per-patient revenue fell because of increased costs of operating an electronic medical records system, Lim says.

To improve productivity and patient revenue, Lim notes that ophthalmologists need better implementation and maintenance help from their electronic health records vendor. “In a perfect world, EHR systems would help providers deliver efficient patient care and include a positive, user-friendly interface,” Lim says. “EHR technology is evolving, and we will end up with such systems if appropriate stakeholders, including healthcare professionals who use EHR, and those who design them work together.”

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