Electronic Medical Records Drive Physicians to Stay, Go

There's a twist, however: while U.S. doctors are moving forward in using electronic medical records, the mere presence of this technology is among the reasons they are moving out of their existing private practices and toward hospital employment, according to a report from Accenture.

Accenture says that over the next 18 months, more doctors are expected to leave private practice for hospital employment, due to "rising costs and technology mandates."More than half the doctors (53%) cited EMR requirements as a main reason for leaving private practice. The Accenture findings resulted from extensive market analysis on U.S. physician employment and a survey of 204 physicians in independent practice conducted in March 2012.

"On the technology side, many physicians we surveyed were daunted by the cost and complexity of certain technology mandates such as [EMRs]," says Kaveh Safavi, MD, JD, Accenture's health industry leader for North America. "Everything from the selection of an electronic medical record to the maintenance of the technology infrastructure and the compliance, it's all very complex and something that has been frustrating for many small practices."