88% of those surveyed say they are getting value from connections; fees remain barriers.
Behavioral health and post-acute electronic health record (EHR) leader Netsmart reports the strongest ability to use outside data of five such EHRs, according to the first-of-its-kind 2020 Interoperability Post-Acute and Behavioral Health Report from KLAS.
"Netsmart customers report the most advanced capabilities when it comes to accessing and ingesting outside patient data," the report states. "Customers can automatically pull outside information (such as medications) into the EHR for reconciliation and use filtering tools to search ingested CCDs for relevant lab data and progress notes." CCDs are Continuity of Care Documents, based on HL7 standards.
KLAS, a Salt Lake City-based research and insights firm, compared Netsmart to behavioral health and post-acute EHR competitors MatrixCare, Homecare Homebase, PointClickCare, and WellSky.
A catalyst for moving outside data to these EHRs was the November 2018 connection between CommonWell and Carequality, the two most popular industry methods of exchanging medical records. So far, this connection has been utilized mostly by acute and ambulatory care organizations, KLAS says.
MatrixCare Homecare (Brightree) was among the first of these companies to connect to the CommonWell-Carequality connection. Approximately 100 customers have adopted the CommonWell connection, which requires little effort to set up, the KLAS report says.
More recently, MatrixCare has connected its long-term care solution to Carequality, and so far, about 30 customers are live.
According to KLAS, 88% of post-acute care and behavioral health organizations say they are getting value from their connections. The key benefit is being a few clicks away from getting this information, instead of waiting for faxes or chasing down other caregivers on the phone.
Although technical issues are few, nontechnical issues still present barriers to adoption, KLAS says. For instance, Homecare Homebase and Netsmart charge separate fees to set up connections.
The full report is available for download on the KLAS website.
[Editor's Note: This story was updated on January 11, 2020, to remove information about charges that are no longer applicable.]
Scott Mace is a contributing writer for HealthLeaders.