AMA/RAND Study on Factors Affecting Physician Satisfaction

The results of a study commisioned by the American Medical Association and put out by the RAND Corporation on factors affecting physician performance, were released October 9, 2013.  The study examined physicians' perceptions of the quality of care, use of electronic health records (EHRs), practice organization, and overall physician satisfaction.  One of the key findings of the study was that while physicians see promise in EHRs, they are often frustrated by EHRs due to concerns about interoperability of systems and the amount of physician time devoted to data entry.  43 percent of physicians surveyed reported that using the EHR slowed them down while providing clinical care, while more than 33 percent felt that EHR use interfered with communication between physicians and patients during visits.  However, 54 percent of physicians reported that an EHR improves communication between doctors and patients outside the clinical visit, and 61 percent reported that an EHR can lead to care improvement.  The recommendations of the RAND study included changing the meaningful use program to incease flexibility among providers and create incentives for EHR vendors to make their products more user-friendly.  

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