In its newly released survey, Practice Fusion, a free, web-based electronic medical record (EMR) company, has stated that 45 percent of doctors in small or medium-sized practices have reported an improvement in their services.
While 14 percent of doctors report that their practice is doing worse, and 33 percent report no change, 45 percent of doctors report that their practice is doing better this year compared to last year, the survey stated. In the 2011 State of the Small Practice Survey, only 26 percent reported that their practice was doing better than the year before, while 41 percent reported doing worse. For 60 percent of small practices, the introduction of new technologies has made things better, the company stated in a press release.
“We are witnessing a transformation in American medicine," said Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion. "On the one hand, small practice doctors are struggling with rising costs and lower reimbursement rates. On the other hand, technologies such as Practice Fusion's free EMR system are helping thousands of medical practices across the country to increase efficiency, eliminate paper charts, qualify for federal EMR incentives and provide top quality care to their communities.”
Showing a major improvement from 73 percent the previous year, only thirty-eight percent report that the computers in their practice are over three years old. 26 percent of practices use computers that are less than a year old. Down from 21 percent in 2011, seven percent of practices have computers in the five to six-year-old range. An overwhelming 89 percent of doctors report being satisfied or extremely satisfied with their career despite challenges, a 20 percent increase from the year before.
Recently, the company announced that its e-prescribing software has been revamped.. The company's free e-prescribing technology flagged more than 7,000 deadly drug interactions for medical professionals in 2011 alone. Practice Fusion's e-prescribing software is often used as a gateway technology for doctors moving away from paper medical records.
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Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of Raju’s articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
