IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD IMPLEMENTATION ON PATIENT VISIT VOLUME IN AN ACADEMIC OPHTHALMOLOGY CLINIC

Abstract

Having electronic health records (EHRs) is now a standard part of healthcare delivery. We designed this study to measure the number of patients seen at the clinic before and after the introduction of EHR in the clinic. Our analysis involved going over patient visit numbers by session and checking the staff support given to established faculty ophthalmologists. In five sequential years, starting in the year prior to EHR introduction, data were gathered from July to October each year. Only eight of the surgeons reviewed satisfied our criteria. The number of patient visits was lower in every year after EHR adoption compared to the first year (p ≤ 0.027). The number of patients treated per practitioner fell by 16.9% on average over the four years (the range was between 15.3% and 18.5%). For the group, the patient volume seen per session in the last year did not equal their pre-EHR numbers. The number of support staff did not change during the time frame of the study (p > 0.2). Changing to EHR was related to fewer patient visits per clinic session in an academic outpatient center with a constant number of support staff. In these types of clinics, needing more support staff may help maintain both the clinic’s schedule and patients’ ease of access.