28 Oct MGMA: Practice Revenue Increases with EHRs

HealthLeadersMedia.com | October 28 – Medical practices that have avoided implementing an electronic health record system (EHR) because of the associated costs may not have such a strong argument, according to a study published by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). Data collected from both hospital/IDS-owned and independent practices indicates that practices that have implemented an EHR system produced better financial results than those that have not.

Multi-specialty and single-specialty practices, including primary care, nonsurgical, and surgical specialties with an EHR had almost $50,000 more in operating margin—total medical revenue per full-time-equivalent (FTE) physician—than practices that still use paper medical records.

And while overall expenses rose among EHR-enabled practices (approximately $106,000 per FTE physician), median revenue per FTE physician was also greater at $179,000 for the year. “The potential of improved financial performance should be an encouragement for many organizations to purchase and use an EHR,” said William Jessee, president and CEO of MGMA in a statement.

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