A Medical Device Daily

Oracle (Redwood Shores, California) reported that more than three-fourths of healthcare providers have plans to implement electronic health record (EHR) infrastructures and that 56% express confidence in the industry's ability to meet the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) EHR implementation timeline.

This result comes from Oracle's Healthcare Provider Examination study, an online survey of 354 of all types of providers concerning their progress in transitioning to EHRs.

The study also found that 56% of providers report no change in optimism or less optimism this year about America's EHR transition prognosis. Moving beyond assessing symptoms to analyze causes, 75% of providers flag IT implementation costs as the No. 1 obstacle to wide-scale EHR deployment, and 67% assert that direct government funding would accelerate the realization of HHS's initiatives on EHR.

Additionally 44% cite IT infrastructure challenges – calling out the need for standards and system interoperability – as major obstacles to EHR implementation.

Mychelle Mowry, vice president for global health industries at Oracle, added a caveat: “the precise range of EHR implementation and associated funding sources are still in question.“

She said that Oracle's goal “is to enable healthcare IT systems – and, by extension, healthcare providers – to communicate precisely and unambiguously with one another, sharing data that is complete, accurate and comparable. Our nation's health depends upon it.“

Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed assert they plan to implement EHRs, and 85% of this majority estimate completion within five years. Clinics/community health organizations lead the charge to EHR implementation – 92% plan to implement EHRs, and 46% indicate they will complete implementation in less than one year – followed by physician practice groups and hospitals/healthcare systems – 86% of both groups indicate plans to implement EHRs.

While 50% of physician practice groups plan to complete their implementations in less than one year, hospitals/healthcare systems project longer implementation timelines.