A year after the federal government set “meaningful use” criteria for electronic health records, the vast majority (78%) of hospitals expect to be sticking with analog, paper records for up to the next five years.
This is according to a new survey from Iron Mountain. The survey, which polled over 200 health information professionals in April, found that only 49% of hospitals scan what they need and are in budget, another 23% report that they are within budget but have a backlog. More than half are scanning records onsite. The majority (72%) rely on full-time employees to scan records compared to just 9% who outsource to third parties and 6% who use part-time staff. Surprisingly, 44% are not explicitly measuring the effectiveness or productivity of their scanning process. Once scanning is complete, more than a third (38%) plan to continue storing their paper records.
The survey suggests three areas for saving time and money during the EMR transition process: better preparation, scanning the right records, and improved resource utilization.
(Source: Press Release)
