Most office-based physicians who have adopted electronic health records are satisfied with the systems they have chosen and have noted improved patient care, according to a survey by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was released July 18.

Fifty-five percent of responding physicians indicated they had adopted at least some EHR technology in their practices. In addition, 85 percent of physicians who have adopted EHRs said they were somewhat (47 percent) or very (38 percent) satisfied with their EHR system. Additionally, a majority of the physicians said they would purchase their EHR systems again, further indicating their satisfaction with the new technology.

[See also: Survey names top five states for physician EHR adoption .]

According to the study, three-fourths of the physicians who have adopted EHRs reported that their system meets meaningful use requirements. Also, about three-fourths of the physicians who are using EHR technology said that using their system enhanced overall patient care. Half of them said they had been alerted to critical lab results within the past 30 days by using the EHR system, and about 40 percent said they had been alerted to potential medication errors.

About three-fourths of the physicians also reported they had accessed a patient’s chart remotely within the past 30 days, which can be important to patient care when a need arises outside office hours or the doctor is offsite, the study said.

[See also: Turning the tide in EHR adoption and meaningful use.]