Do Ambulatory Surgery Centers Use Electronic Health Record Systems?
Eighty-two percent of ambulatory surgery centers do not use an electronic health record system, according to a new survey of ambulatory surgery center administrators. The survey, which was commissioned by Wolters Kluwer Health and conducted by Renaissance Research, also found that 85% of ambulatory surgery centers use paper perioperative notes, while 74% use dictation and transcription for physician procedure notes. Forty-three percent of respondents cited the following obstacles to electronically streamlining procedure documentation: Lack of interface with scheduling software and other existing systems;Inadequate capital investment;Lack of software to capture their patient mix; andInsufficient staff to implement a new system. The survey also found that 49% of administrators said they were concerned that revenue could be lost in their IT implementation process. Results are based on a telephone survey of 175 ambulatory surgery center administrators conducted between Feb. 29 and March 12
