As of 2023, about 54.6% of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in the United States use an electronic health record (EHR). I believe that this number is inflated through the inclusion of hospital affiliated ASCs. Nevertheless, this means that at least 45.4% of ASCs do not use an EHR.
There are a few factors that may contribute to the relatively low adoption rate of EHRs in ASCs, including:
The cost of EHRs can be prohibitive for smaller ASCs.
The EHRs that are available for ASCs are not really designed for use in such a high volume, fast paced environment.
There is no federal mandate for ASCs to use EHRs. More importantly, there is no federal funding for ASCs to adopt an EHR. Hospitals and physician offices were provided with a financial incentive to implement an EHR. In addition, CMS instituted a financial penalty for those that did not take advantage of the financial incentive. The proverbial carrot and stick approach.
Consequently, there is a great amount of efficiency and data that is missing in the ASC space. This has also led to a proliferation of software solutions designed to address specific issues or problems. These are called point solutions. More on this in the next post.
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