Private practices are generally shrinking in number, so there IS NO EHR that is growing in the long term to serve them, so there CANNOT BE a trend where hospitals are exceptional, their IT buying trends are the NORM and their purpose is to code for billing. It is NOT about having or not having IT resources strictly speaking.
> hospitals use EHR to maximize billing
As a person who has worked extensively with hospitals and CHCs helping them integrate technology, this is false.
EHR is being used because it's required - both by payors and regulation/law. I can think of zero instances where an organization switched to EHR without being forced by a deadline from an outside source.
Both of you are overstating your cases. That said, it’s hard to overstate how heavily charge capture and billing are prioritized to the detriment of other aspects.
> I can think of zero instances where an organization switched to EHR without being forced by a deadline from an outside source.
There were major EHR deployments in the 80s through early 00s, before most government mandates. Surely later mandates were an incentive This reflects a lack of tenure.
Examples?
https://international.kaiserpermanente.org/wp-content/upload...
Both UPMC and Cleveland Clinic were early adopters around 2001. Meditech has been partnered with HCA since 1994.
Your argument fails in cases where hospitals switch from bespoke EHRs to use one large EHR that has better revenue features. This is quite trivially discovered if one follows the news of large hospital chains who have moved to Epic recently.
Yep, and more and more payors - government and private - are demanding systems that are both interoperable and audiable
Internal, bespoke systems are notoriously nightmarish for auditing
Epic has been sold in in Denmark and Finland, where it was a disaster, and then in Norway, where they failed to take lessons from the disasters. I don't think it's federal requirements which is the selling point there, though I wonder what the hell the selling point is, or what the Epic sales people put in acquirers' coffee.
But these get announced all the time, so the premise is false.
Epic is one of the few providers who can meet a larger organization's overall needs
The competitors, like eClinicalWorks, are a shadow in comparison
No doubt companies increase revenue with more efficient capture of services, costs, labor factors, etc, but I've actually been in the room with people from Epic and have heard the sales presentation. I'm betting I have a decent grasp on both what they're selling and what the buyers are asking for.
This may be true but it is different from your earlier claim about an upcoming deadline forcing any change in EHR, which was clearly false.