Price transparency: It's critical to bending the healthcare cost curve and a key piece of that is giving doctors access to medication costs at the point of care.
Half of physicians, in fact, feel that their access to all patient data could be much better, according to the new Surescripts report, "Physician Perspectives on Access to Patient Data."
Particularly vexing is pricing info because 56 percent of responding physicians see prescription price information as a priority -- but only 11 percent can easily access it electronically.
Surescripts affirmed that interoperable networks are critically important when it comes to giving healthcare providers access to actionable data within the electronic health record. Yet gaps remain.
For instance, physicians said prescription price should impact decisions, and 59 percent want to be able to compare the price of therapeutic alternatives. Again, most currently cannot do so.
What's more, 83 percent of physicians see medication adherence information as a priority, yet only 17 percent can easily retrieve it electronically. Medication adherence information is the least trusted type of information among physicians.
Meanwhile, 88 percent of physicians see patient clinical history as a priority, but just 30 percent have easy access to it electronically -- a factor that impedes care coordination.
ORC International administered the survey to 300 qualifying primary care physicians between October 5 and October 17, 2017. To qualify for the survey, physicians had to have been in practice for at least five years, spend at least 50 percent of their time providing direct patient care for at least 100 patients per year, and use an EHR.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com