Ambulatory EMR Outreach in US Health Care: A Clear Case for Hospitals

Recent policy and legislative change has given new impetus to electronic medical records (EMRs) in US health care. With potentially hundreds of thousands of solo and small-group practices affected, physicians are full of questions: Which system should they choose? What will installing and maintaining an EMR system entail from a time and resource perspective? How will EMRs affect the day-to-day operations of their practice? And perhaps most important, how will they pay for it all?

The Accenture Institute for Health & Public Service Value surveyed more than 1,000 solo and small-group physicians in the United States about EMR systems. The findings suggest that physicians are increasingly looking to hospitals in hopes of finding some answers to their questions. It is Accenture’s point of view that hospital systems could play a substantial part in the future of EMRs in small physicians’ practices.

In Ambulatory EMR Outreach in US Health Care: A Clear Case for Hospitals, Accenture provides an overview and analysis of the survey findings and their implications for hospitals. The report urges hospitals to take proactive steps to develop an effective EMR outreach program. It also delineates the key challenges and requirements of doing so.