Clinicians Seem To Be Spending An Amazing Amount Of Time Working With Their Electronic Health Records.

This appeared last week:

Original Research |14 January 2020

Physician Time Spent Using the Electronic Health Record During Outpatient Encounters: A Descriptive Study

J. Marc Overhage, MD, PhD; David McCallie Jr., MD

Article, Author, and Disclosure Information

Abstract

Background:

The amount of time that providers spend using electronic health records (EHRs) to support the care delivery process is a concern for the U.S. health care system. Given the potential effect on patient care and the high costs related to this time, particularly for medical specialists whose work is largely cognitive, these findings warrant more precise documentation of the time physicians invest in these clinically focused EHR functions.

Objective:

To describe how much time ambulatory medical subspecialists and primary care physicians across several U.S. care delivery systems spend on various EHR functions.

Design:

Descriptive study.

Setting:

U.S.-based, adult, nonsurgical, ambulatory practices using the Cerner Millennium EHR.

Participants:

155 000 U.S. physicians.

Measurements:

Data were extracted from software log files in the Lights On Network (Cerner) during 2018 that totaled the time spent on each of the 13 clinically focused EHR functions. Averages per encounter by specialty were computed.

Results:

This study included data from approximately 100 million patient encounters with about 155 000 physicians from 417 health systems. Physicians spent an average of 16 minutes and 14 seconds per encounter using EHRs, with chart review (33%), documentation (24%), and ordering (17%) functions accounting for most of the time. The distribution of time spent by providers using EHRs varies greatly within specialty. The proportion of time spent on various clinically focused functions was similar across specialties.

Limitations:

Variation by health system could not be examined, and all providers used the same software.

Conclusion:

The time spent using EHRs to support care delivery constitutes a large portion of the physicians' day, and wide variation suggests opportunities to optimize systems and processes.

Primary Funding Source:

None.

Here is the link:

https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2758843/physician-time-spent-using-electronic-health-record-during-outpatient-encounters

This is a US study so presumably the non-clinical time is coding / billing related – about 25% of the total time.

Even if we in Australia spend ½ the time it is a huge amount of effort and time – with it being say 30% of a 20 minute consultation. If not compensated it will lead to a more than significant loss / foregoing of income!

That much screen time must also add to physician burnout to some degree. No one in either country can be pleased with that much unpaid overtime!

A useful abstract to be aware of..

David.