Emergency Department Technology Replacements Surge, According To Black Book

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

Emergency departments across the country have recently found themselves in a bind. They’re stuck between the two challenges of increasing visits (due to an aging population, a shortage of PCPs, and new Accountable Care Act-driven healthcare users), and issues around emergency department information systems (EDIS) that are leaving them scrambling to catch up, according to PR Newswire.

A full 72 percent of hospitals were found to be dissatisfied with the interoperability and usability of their EDIS choices. Of the hospitals with more than 150 beds that currently have an EDIS, 35 percent are planning on replacing their information systems next year. The majority of these replacements (69 percent) will occur among hospitals currently using enterprise EHR (electronic health records) emergency modules and moving toward best-of-breed EDIS choices that integrate well with the hospital’s existing EHR.

The Decision-Making Process

Providers of EDIS solutions will want to make note that administrators are including ED physicians and nurses in their purchasing decisions, a practice that was not common a few years ago, and may mean a need to adjust existing sales processes.

Black Book traced these numbers in 2010, when only 7 percent of doctors in the ED and 2 percent of nurses were included in selection teams and were only given the option of enterprise EHRs. In 2015, those numbers are jumping to 70 percent for physicians and increasing to 16 percent on the nursing side.

Black Book reports a few other notable findings:

• Of hospitals that implemented a replacement EDIS between Q2 of 2014 and Q1 of 2015, 78 percent say they have seen improved reporting capabilities less than three months after deployment.
• Among hospitals with more than 200 beds that implemented a replacement EDIS between Q2 of 2014 and Q1 of 2015, 44 percent saw a drop in visit costs of between 4 and 12 percent in comparison to the same period the previous year.
• Customer service outcomes are improving for 76 percent of hospitals who implemented a replacement EDIS between Q2 of 2014 and Q1 of 2015.

For the survey, hospitals were also asked to rank their six most desirable features when replacing their EDIS (enterprise or best-of-breed):

• interoperability and connectivity (internal and external sources), 93 percent
• physician productivity improvements, 89 percent
• tablets/smartphones 87 percent
• ease of use, 86 percent
• diagnosis enhancements, 70 percent
• patient satisfaction, 68 percent
• reporting improvements, 66 percent
• staff productivity improvements, 63 percent
• revenue cycle improvements and charge capture, 43 percent
• coding improvements, 42 percent
• interfaces, 29 percent
• customer services improvements, 24 percent
• improved resource planning, 23 percent
• cost reductions, 19 percent