With 80% of target family physicians and specialists in BC now using EMRs (85% including practices currently in the implementation process), there are many examples of how EMR technology can produce better patient data and enable physicians to practise more efficiently. Physicians all over the province, in varying practice types are using different EMR systems and are reaping the rewards, including better patient care and professional satisfaction.
EMR adoption in British Columbia is now at 80% of target full-service family practice and specialist physicians, one of the highest rates in Canada along with Ontario and Alberta. We expect that this number will reach 85% to 90% within the next 6 months. As EMR adoption reaches ubiquity, the focus of everyone involved is shifting toward optimal use of EMRs and their interconnectivity to one another, as well as to PharmaNet and the Provincial Laboratory Information Solution (PLIS).
With 80% of target family physicians and specialists in BC now using EMRs (85% including practices currently in the implementation process), there are many examples of how EMR technology can produce better patient data and enable physicians to practise more efficiently. Physicians all over the province, in varying practice types are using different EMR systems and are reaping the rewards, including better patient care and professional satisfaction.
With almost 65% of eligible physicians having adopted an EMR in their practice in British Columbia, several trends are becoming clear. As discussed in previous articles, the 65% of physicians who have adopted EMRs are heavily weighted toward non-urban physicians in group practice, and particularly physicians in communities that have established divisions of family practice and EMR communities of practice. Urban solo and small clinics trail well behind and make up most of the remaining 35%.
Today in British Columbia around 60% of physicians in private practice offices are using an electronic medical record (EMR), and that number is moving steadily upward every year. This upward trend of EMR adoption offers a new opportunity to address the growing challenge of providing quality health care to an aging population.
According to a recent survey by the business firm Deloitte, the number of those surveyed who have one or more chronic diseases has risen from 47% in 2009 to 52% in 2011.
