TAMPA, Fla., February 22, 2023 (Newswire.com) - 25,501 physicians, practice administrators, financial staff, clinicians, and support personnel from over 22,000 medical offices and clinics participated in the 2023 Black Book Research physician software user polls. The comprehensive survey is comprised of 18 qualitative key performance indicators on client experience and satisfaction, evaluating 208 electronic health records vendors with integrated practice management tools.

For many physician practices, purchasing an appropriate practice management system (PMS) can be a daunting task. Yet, 54% of medical groups with 10 or more clinicians indicated they plan to significantly upgrade or replace their current practice management system software in the next 18 months. Two of the major drivers behind the technology transformations are in response to healthcare industry developments such as the need to document clinical quality to achieve optimized revenue benefits and the intensified requirements for data sharing to coordinate care to ready organizations for value-based care capitation.

Ninety-five percent of those large practices indicated they will select an integrated, cloud-based solution that can offer benefits not available in older practice management systems, including telehealth, workflow process improvements, interoperability, patient portals, and complex analytics tools supporting population health management.   

Survey participants indicated the three most pressing digital enhancements they are seeking in replacing their current practice management system: 

Analytics and Practice Performance Data - 89% (Note: 91% of practices indicated a pressing need for more robust compliance technology support for reimbursement purposes, and comprehensive EHR compliance with payers, particularly Medicare).

Cybersecurity - 79% (Note: The Mishandling of HIPAA-protected patient data is the greatest risk to practice viability according to 73% of respondents, even greater than medical malpractice claims at 68%).

Revenue cycle & coding improvements -  67% (Note: 90% of survey participants strongly agree that small profit margins per patient and increased demand are directly linked to their need for a lean and ongoing methodology, to patient flow supported by an updated practice management system).

Workflow process improvements - 23% (Note: Demand for patient care is rising as 83% of surveyed practices saw an increase in volumes in the first quarter of 2023).

Interoperability improvements - 18% (Note: 94% of surveyed practices still have daily issues with connectivity with other practices, hospitals, rehab centers, labs, and health care information sources using older legacy systems).

Patient Portal improvements - 9% (Note: 62% of respondents strongly agree that when patients can feed their health data directly into the practice management and integrated EHR solution, physician productivity and the quality of patient care increases).

"One of the major takeaways from this year's polling is the top-rated practice management vendors are demonstrating a proficiency to continually collect performance data from within the individual practice and benchmark that data alongside practices from across the nation," said Doug Brown, Managing Partner of the survey research firm, Black Book™. "This is also enhancing the performance of the overall cloud-based solution for medium and large medical organizations, as it is providing performance scales for every practitioner on the network." 

Additionally, the survey revealed that The Great Resignation has affected physician practices more than other industries with the highest office staff attrition rates experienced to date. Nine out of 10 survey participants indicated an attrition rate of over 50% in the past 18 months compared to 13% in 2013. Tied to attrition is the negative impact on practice cash flow to increase salary expenses to retain and hire similarly capable business office and clinical support staff. 

Black Book Research measures customer satisfaction across surgical practice user-centric, key performance indicators: strategic alignment of client goals; innovation and optimization; training; client relationships and cultural fit; trust, accountability, transparency, and ethics; breadth of offerings; delivery excellence; deployment and implementation; customization; integration, connectivity, and interfaces; scalability, client adaptability; flexible pricing; reliability; brand image and marketing communications; marginal value adds and modules; financial viability and managerial stability; cybersecurity and patient privacy; support and customer care; and best-of-breed technology and process improvement.

The vendors receiving the highest praise by practice size for 2023 along with the total number of survey subset participants) are:

Solo Practices - eClinicalWorks (n=3,996)

Two to Five Group Practitioners - ModMed (n=5,101)

Six to Ten Group Practitioners - NextGen (n=4,205)

Eleven to Twenty-five Group Practitioners - NextGen (n=4,590)

Twenty-six to Ninety-nine Group Practitioners - NextGen (n=3,315)

One Hundred and over Group Practitioners - Veradigm (n=4,292)

About Black Book

Black Book Market Research LLC, its founder, management, and staff do not own or hold any financial interest in any of the software, services, and solutions vendors covered and encompassed in the surveys it conducts. Black Book reports the results of the collected satisfaction and client experience rankings in publication and to media before firm notification of rating results and does not solicit survey participation fees, review fees, inclusion, or briefing charges, or involve consultant firm collaboration with Black Book before the announcement of the polling outcomes.

For Black Book vendor satisfaction rating methodology, auditing, resources, comprehensive research, and ranking data, see www.blackbookmarketresearch.com or contact Research@BlackBookMarketResearch.com. The survey instruments are available through Apple iTunes and the Google Play store, as well as at the company website above.