EHR incentive program enrollment climbs to 73%

Nearly three-fourths of eligible professionals have registered for the government’s electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs, according to a recent report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

To date, some 230,000 providers, or 44% of eligible professionals, are said to be “meaningfully using” EHR technology.

At the end of March, the federal government had paid about $13.7 billion to providers since 2011.

Little doubt exists that most physicians are pleased to receive payments to help them defray the costs of EHRs, but to what extent they’re pleased with their EHR systems is another matter.

A survey of 17,000 active EHR users earlier this year found that 23% of physician practices are frustrated enough with the software to consider switching vendors.

Separately, another survey this year found that user satisfaction with EHRs is in decline, down 12 percentage points from 2010 to 2012.

At the same, time, the percentage of users who classified themselves as “very dissatisfied” with their EHRs increased 10 percentage points.