Hospital Technology is the New Determinant of Patient Satisfaction According to EHR User Survey

New Black Book study shows rising customer expectations and lower satisfaction rates based on provider technology

TAMPA, Fla., April 20, 2018 (Newswire.com) - Electronic health record technology and the ways that providers use it to communicate with patients and physicians is affecting how satisfied stakeholders are with their hospital organizations. The insight is revealed within the eighth annual Black Book industry surveys of inpatient EHR users including hospital staff, managers, networked physicians and patient panels.

“Involvement with healthcare consumers through technologies is proving to be a significant element of patient satisfaction,” said Doug Brown, managing partner of Black Book Research. “Healthcare consumers more frequently interact through electronic media in 2018, and while they value contact with their providers, they don’t have the patience for lacks in hospital interoperability, incorrect billing and access to scheduling and results.”

Doug BrownEighty-nine percent of healthcare consumers under 40 polled in this year's survey on hospital provider technologies disclosed they are unsatisfied with the technology capabilities of the healthcare organizations with which they seek services. Eighty-four percent assert they are seeking the most technologically advanced and electronically communicative medical organizations available for their healthcare alternatives.

In a time when technology makes communication almost instantaneous, younger generations of healthcare consumers have higher expectations and expressed a greater degree of dissatisfaction with their inpatient provider experience where complete medical records (92 percent dissatisfied) and telehealth (85 percent dissatisfied) options are not offered. "Patients expect and want to interact more with hospitals through digital channels like email, apps and social media rather than interacting on a traditionally personal level with clinical and financial back office staff," said Brown.

In contrast, 78 percent of hospitals responding report they have not prioritized or budgeted more meaningful improvements in patient engagement, interoperability or patient communications for the current calendar year 2018.

“The revenue cycle management channel of healthcare IT systems had the lowest positive experience,” said Brown. “Hospitals are taking steps to improve it, but they have a way to go.”

For 69 percent of surveyed consumers, the business office and insurance processes can be the most important moment when overall satisfaction of a hospital organization is concluded, for cases where patient care met expectations. "Part of this is probably due in part to patient expectations that have been set beyond most hospital’s technological capabilities for interoperability with both other providers and payors,” said Brown.

Eighty-eight percent of surveyed consumers blame the hospital system directly, not the electronic health record systems or financial technology for the lack in patient record portability and access among providers.

The results of the top-ranked vendors in inpatient EHR and healthcare technology were also announced and available at http://blackbookmarketresearch.com/hospital-clinical-care-and-inpatient-ehr.

Ambulatory and physician top-ranked EHR vendors announced earlier this week by specialties and practice sizes can be found at http://blackbookmarketresearch.com/ambulatory-physician-ehr.

About Black Book™

Black Book Market Research LLC provides healthcare IT users, media, investors, analysts, quality-minded vendors and prospective software system buyers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and other interested sectors of the clinical technology industry with comprehensive comparison data of the industry's top respected and competitively performing technology vendors. The largest user opinion poll of its kind in healthcare IT, Black Book™ collects over 57,000 viewpoints on information technology and outsourced services vendor performance annually.

Black Book™, its founder, management and/or staff do not own or hold any financial interest in any of the vendors covered and encompassed in this survey, and Black Book™ reports the results of the collected satisfaction and client experience rankings in publication and to media prior to vendor notification of rating results.

Follow Black Book™ on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/blackbookpolls.

For methodology, auditing, resources, comprehensive research and ranking data, see http://blackbookmarketresearch.com.