- "The support department is attentive and professional. They are also knowledgeable, allowing them to solve most of our issues on the first call."
- — Susan Cartwright, Office Manager, Partners in Palliative & Home Care
Comparing Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
As "Health Information Technology" has entered the medical lexicon, a number of reputable organizations have conducted head-to-head studies comparing the various EHR programs to one another. These studies all essentially look to answer a very simple question: How much do you like your EHR?
The studies summarized below show what thousands of clinicians have to say about their own EHR. What is most amazing is that in study after study, Amazing Charts is rated significantly better in essentially every key indicator of overall EHR satisfaction, quality, and usability, despite costing a fraction of the other programs. Of course our reporting of these data does not constitute an endorsement by the study publishers or authors. Instead, it is our interpretation of the study data as published.
2011 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services
KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of Healthcare IT vendors based on survey data of users. Amazing Charts was ranked the #1 EHR for ambulatory practices of 1 - 10 providers, beating Greenway, e-MDs, eClinicalWorks, Aprima, NextGen, GE Healthcare, and others. (Klasresearch.com, 12/11)
Rank | Vendor/Product | Overall Score | Rating % Change | Konfidence Level | Disclosure Level | Buy Again | Product Quality Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Amazing Charts | 85.1 | 0% | √√√ | Full | 90% | 7.7 |
2 | Greenway Medical PrimeSuite Chart | 84.4 | -3% | √√√ | Majority | 92% | 7.8 |
3 | athenahealth athenaClinicals | 83.5 | 0% | √√√ | Full | 89% | 7.8 |
4 | Sevocity EHR | 82.9 | +8% | √√√ | Full | 88% | 7.3 |
5 | e-MDs Chart | 82.2 | -2% | √√√ | Majority | 91% | 7.7 |
6 | eClinicalWorks EMR | 80.2 | -2% | √√√ | Majority | 86% | 7.6 |
7 | Vitera Intergy EHR (Sage) | 77.3 | +5% | √√√ | Majority | 82% | 7.6 |
8 | NextGen Healthcare EMR | 75.5 | -1% | √√√ | Full | 84% | 7.0 |
9 | Cerner Millennium PowerChart/PowerWorks EMR | 73.2 | -6% | √√√ | Full | 78% | 6.8 |
10 | GE Healthcare Centricity EMR | 73.0 | -4% | √√√ | Full | 71% | 6.9 |
11 | AprimaEHR | 72.0 | -2% | √√√ | Majority | 73% | 6.8 |
12 | Allscripts Professional EHR | 71.6 | -13% | √√√ | Limited | 76% | 7.2 |
13 | Henry Schein Medical MicroMD | 68.3 | -3% | √√√ | Full | 68% | 6.5 |
14 | McKesson Practice Partner | 57.0 | -24% | √√√ | Majority | 54% | 6.1 |
The 2011 EHR User Satisfaction Survey (n=2,719)
This survey, published in Family Practice Management (FPM), asks 2719 AAFP academy members how much they agree with a number of statements (17 in all), including the ones below. Physicians were asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement using the scale Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree. Data from this study are summarized below with EHRs ranked in order of respondents' satisfaction.
EHR Vendor | Percentage(1) of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following statement: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "I am highly satisfied with this EHR." | "Overall this EHR is easy and intuitive to use." | "Documenting care is easy and effective with this EHR." | "Finding and reviewing information is easy with this EHR." | "E-messaging and tasking within the office is easy with this EHR." | "If I were in the market to buy a new EHR now, this is the EHR I would buy." |
Amazing Charts (n=99) | 90% | 97% | 97% | 94% | 94% | 88% |
Medent (n=33) | 87% | 73% | 78% | 91% | 97% | 78% |
Praxis (n=26) | 84% | 77% | 93% | 92% | 87% | 84% |
Soapware (n=41) | 75% | 87% | 77% | 80% | 93% | 70% |
e-MDs (n=120) | 74% | 80% | 83% | 82% | 87% | 69% |
Practice Fusion (n=17) | 70% | 82% | 87% | 83% | 77% | 64% |
athenaclinicals (n=28) | 68% | 64% | 64% | 75% | 82% | 53% |
eClinicalWorks (n=244) | 55% | 63% | 68% | 70% | 86% | 49% |
Centricity EMR (n=209) | 51% | 51% | 59% | 64% | 77% | 29% |
Allscripts Professional (n=106) | 54% | 57% | 53% | 78% | 87% | 45% |
Allscripts Enterprise (n=180) | 36% | 40% | 55% | 57% | 70% | 18% |
Allscripts MyWay (n=13) | 30% | 31% | 53% | 32% | 68% | 23% |
NextGen (n=247) | 28% | 29% | 47% | 35% | 57% | 17% |
(1) Percentages adapted from bar graphs in Edsall RL, Adler KG. The 2011 EHR User Satisfaction Survey. Fam Pract Manag. 2011 July-Aug; 18(4):23-30 | ||||||
The AmericanEHR Partners Study (n>1,700)
This is an ongoing survey of members of various medical societies, including the American College of Physicians (ACP) and many others (see reference below). Physicians ranked their EHR on 12 parameters using a 5 point scale. Only vendors with > 10 respondents were compared. Data as of October 2011 are summarized below with vendors listed by Satisfaction.
EHR Vendor | Satisfaction | Overall Usability | Implementation Experience | Training | Support Experience | Purchase Experience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amazing Charts (n=45) | 4.22 | 4.29 | 4.47 | 4.12 | 4.18 | 4.52 |
Medent (n=35) | 4.07 | 4.12 | 3.88 | 3.76 | 3.97 | 3.94 |
e-MD (n=62) | 4.03 | 4.12 | 3.99 | 3.70 | 3.76 | 4.09 |
eClinicalWorks (n=218) | 3.78 | 3.93 | 3.83 | 3.70 | 3.47 | 4.06 |
Practice Partner by McKesson (n=55) | 3.64 | 3.73 | 3.49 | 3.47 | 3.32 | 3.55 |
GE Centricity (n=126) | 3.58 | 3.66 | 3.46 | 3.37 | 3.20 | 3.43 |
Soapware (n=29) | 3.57 | 3.73 | 3.64 | 3.30 | 3.59 | 4.01 |
Greenway PrimeSuite (n=22) | 3.56 | 3.82 | 3.89 | 3.39 | 3.80 | 4.00 |
Allscripts Professional (n=142) | 3.56 | 3.63 | 3.61 | 3.40 | 3.23 | 3.56 |
Sage Intergy (n=54) | 3.55 | 3.65 | 3.55 | 3.45 | 3.48 | 3.76 |
aprima EHR (n=16) | 3.29 | 3.69 | 3.62 | 3.50 | 3.57 | 3.97 |
Allscripts MyWay (n=14) | 3.16 | 3.08 | 2.97 | 2.81 | 3.24 | 3.43 |
Cerner Millenium Powercharts (n=149) | 3.10 | 3.03 | 3.25 | 3.10 | 3.19 | 3.60 |
NextGen (n=132) | 3.09 | 3.35 | 3.35 | 3.28 | 2.98 | 3.50 |
athenaClinicals by athenahealth (n=13) | 2.97 | 3.23 | 4.06 | 3.29 | 3.10 | 4.40 |
Practice Fusion (n=9) | Not Yet | Not Yet Included | Not Yet | Not Yet Included | Not Yet | Not Yet |
Praxis (n=0) | Not | Not Included | Not | Not Included | Not | Not |
(1) Presentation of Data Collected From Physicians in the American College of Physician (ACP), American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (AAAAI), American College of Rheumatology (ACR), American Osteopathic Association of Medical Informatics (AOAMI), American Psychiatric Association (APA), Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), Renal Physicians Association (RPA), and the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). Vendors are included only if there are 10 or more physician reviews. Data at http://www.americanehr.com as of10/7/2011. | ||||||
The Center for Health IT Physician Survey (n > 720)
The Center for Health IT at the AAFP has an ongoing survey instrument that asks members to rate their EHR on a 5-point Likert scale based on five basic parameters: Quality, Price, Support, Ease of Use, and Impact on Productivity.
EHR Vendor | Average Physician Rating |
|---|---|
AmazingCharts (n=35) | 4.54 |
e-MDs (n=37) | 4.34 |
Soapware (n=62) | 4.12 |
eClinicalWorks (n=64) | 3.96 |
Praxis (n=23) | 3.94 |
GE Centricity (n=43) | 3.62 |
(McKesson) Practice Partner (n=87) | 3.32 |
Epic (n=31) | 3.00 |
NextGen (n=29) | 2.74 |
(Allscripts) Misys EMR (n=27) | 2.74 |
Intergy by Sage (n=8) | 2.35 |
(1) Data for some of the 94 EHRs listed at www.centerforhit.org as of 10/06/2011 | |
The 2009 EHR User Satisfaction Survey (n=2,012)
The journal Family Practice Management (FPM) publishes a biennial survey of EHR user satisfaction among family practice physician members of the AAFP. To determine physician satisfaction the study asked respondents to indicate their level of agreement with thirteen statements, including the key indicators of EHR quality listed below. Physicians were asked to report their level of agreement or disagreement using the scale Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.
EHR Vendor | Percentage (1) of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following statement: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "I am highly satisfied with this EHR system." | "This EHR is worth the expense." | "Overall this EHR is easy and intuitive to use." | "Our EHR vendor provides excellent training and support." | "This EHR enables me to practice higher quality medicine than I could with paper charts." |
Amazing Charts (n=109) | 91% | 95% | 99% | 62% | 78% |
e-MDs (n=98) | 78% | 75% | 85% | 63% | 82% |
Medent (n=23) | 77% | 78% | 78% | 69% | 77% |
Praxis (n=30) | 73% | 80% | 70% | 77% | 86% |
eClinicalWorks (n=165) | 66% | 67% | 75% | 42% | 72% |
Soapware (n=54) | 64% | 76% | 82% | 44% | 68% |
Epic (n=242) | 62% | 57% | 62% | 44% | 71% |
Practice Partner (n=113) | 58% | 65% | 74% | 33% | 73% |
GE Centricity (n=231) | 54% | 53% | 62% | 28% | 65% |
Allscripts Professional (n=90) | 53% | 54% | 65% | 43% | 63% |
aprima (iMedica) (n=18) | 50% | 56% | 73% | 50% | 62% |
Sage Intergy (n=37) | 48% | 32% | 48% | 37% | 55% |
NextGen (n=156) | 38% | 38% | 38% | 32% | 53% |
(1) Percentages adapted from bar graphs in Edsall RL, Adler KG. The 2009 EHR User Satisfaction Survey. Fam Pract Manag. 2009 Nov-Dec;16(6):10-16 corrected | |||||
The Medscape Exclusive Readers’ Choice EMR Survey (n>3,700)
Medscape Readers were asked to rate their Electronic Medical Record (EMR) as either poor (1), fair (2), good (3), very good (4) or excellent (5) in 12 areas of performance, including ease of data entry, overall ease of use, reliability, easy to learn, adequacy of vendor training program, vendor customer support, ease of EMR implementation, interactivity with other office systems, value for the money, physician satisfaction, staff satisfaction, and patient satisfaction.
EHR Vendor | Average Physician Rating |
|---|---|
Amazing Charts (n=92) | 4.17 |
Allscripts Misys (n=337) | 2.74 |
Athenahealth (n<33) | Not Included |
eClinicalWorks (n=148) | 3.25 |
GE Centricity (n=259) | 2.97 |
Greenway (n<33) | Not Included |
McKesson Practice Partner (n=126) | 3.25 |
NextGen (n=170) | 2.66 |
Sage Intergy (n<33) | Not Included |
From Kane LR. Electronic Medical Record Survey Results: Medscape Exclusive Readers’ Choice. Article 709856, Oct. 2009 Number of respondents (n) was calculated by multiplying the percentage of respondents using the specific EHR as presented in Table 2 of the study by the total number of respondents. | |
Again, the reporting of these product reviews does not constitute an endorsement by the study publishers or authors. Product and company names may be trademarked and are the property of the their respective owners.
