Healthcare organizations are continually looking for ways to improve clinician EHR satisfaction despite tight budgets and staffing shortages. According to Arch Collaborative data, organizations who spend more of their budget on their EHR don’t necessarily realize a higher Net EHR Experience Score^†. In contrast, those who prioritize and reallocate resources toward high-impact interventions can often see improved clinician EHR satisfaction—proving that high satisfaction is possible despite budget and staffing constraints. Drawing from Arch Collaborative case studies, this report provides examples of high-performing organizations or those with improved performance who have made small but effective efforts to increase clinician EHR satisfaction.

Lauren Manzione | Monday, January 29, 2024

Oct 2023

Self-Directed eLearning 2023

A New Approach to Educating Clinicians

As Arch Collaborative members recognize the positive impact that robust training and education can have on clinicians’ EHR satisfaction, they are looking for ways to scale their education programs quickly with limited staff and budgets. Organizations are increasingly turning to eLearning—both to scale clinician education efforts with small budgets and to meet the demand of recent graduates from medical and nursing schools, who often prefer this format. This report provides examples of how eLearning can be implemented strategically as a convenient, cost-effective training method that complements traditional instructor-led training.

Tyler Hendricks & Jenifer Gordon | Monday, October 23, 2023

Sep 2023

Arch Collaborative Provider...

Arch Collaborative Provider Guidebook 2023
Arch Collaborative Provider Guidebook2023—Creating EHR Mastery: Onboarding EHR Education; Creating EHR Mastery: Ongoing EHR Education; Creating Shared Ownership: Provider Relationships and Communication; Creating Shared Ownership: Governance; Creating Provider Efficiency: Personalization; Creating Provider Wellness: Reducing Burnout; Building a Technological Foundation: System Reliability and Response Time

Tyler Hendricks, Lauren Manzione, Connor Bice | Friday, September 8, 2023

Sep 2023

Personalizing the EHR 2023

Improving Physician Satisfaction and Efficiency

Since the Arch Collaborative’s early days, analysis of clinician feedback has identified three pillars key to EHR satisfaction: (1) strong user mastery, (2) an organization-wide sense of shared ownership, and (3) EHR technology that meets users’ unique needs (personalization). This last pillar is the focus of this report. While it is important for physicians to have the flexibility to care for patients and document in a way that fits their workflow, too much freedom to change the EHR can hinder efficiency and patient safety. This report identifies the benefits of personalization as well as best practices for leveraging it.

Amanda Wisner | Friday, September 1, 2023

Aug 2023

Epic EHR Initiatives 2023

The Impact on Clinician Satisfaction

With limited budgets and resources, Arch Collaborative members frequently ask KLAS which of their EHR vendor’s education initiatives and system features are most effective at improving EHR efficiency and satisfaction. Because Epic users make up over 60% of respondents in the Arch Collaborative’s data sample, this report evaluates several Epic-specific initiatives and features to help Epic customers determine whether they are worth the investment. While not an exhaustive list of all Epic offerings capable of improving EHR efficiency and satisfaction, the initiatives and features examined in this report are those that Epic users have identified as top of mind.

Anna Beyer | Monday, August 21, 2023

Jul 2023

Firm & Vendor Capabilities for...

Firm & Vendor Capabilities for Clinician EHR Efficiency 2023

Streamlining the Clinician Experience through Services & Software Offerings

Arch Collaborative research has highlighted EHR efficiency as one of the most impactful factors to the clinician EHR experience. However, it is one of the metrics with which clinical staff are least satisfied—only 46% of respondents agree their EHR enables efficiency. Further, lack of efficiency is the NEES* metric most correlated with clinician burnout. Healthcare organizations are looking to services firms and software vendors to help drive EHR efficiency and improve the EHR experience. This report specifically highlights services offerings and software solutions that can support healthcare organizations in their EHR efficiency efforts. The report is part of a series aimed at exploring firm and vendor offerings in a variety of areas that impact EHR satisfaction.

Anna Beyer | Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Jul 2023

EHR Education Software and Services...

EHR Education Software and Services 2023

A Guide to Vendor and Firm Offerings

Arch Collaborative research shows that education is one of the most impactful factors to the clinician EHR experience. KLAS recently invited vendors and firms to provide information on their offerings that can augment healthcare organizations’ efforts to improve clinician EHR education. For this report, KLAS interviewed 75 healthcare organizations to validate these vendor and firm offerings and provide guidance for others who are looking to supplement their EHR education programs.

Anna Beyer | Friday, July 7, 2023

May 2023

Clinician Training 2023

Best Practices for Effective EHR Education

Since the early days of the Arch Collaborative, feedback from clinicians has shown training to be a key pillar of EHR success. The importance of education became even more apparent as methods for delivering training shifted throughout the pandemic. As a collaborative, we continue to ask questions and work with our member organizations—both healthcare organizations and vendors—to identify best practices for EHR education and share success stories that that illustrate them (see recent Collaborative report on vendors who offer EHR education solutions).

Lauren Manzione | Friday, May 12, 2023

Apr 2023

EHR Education Vendor & Firm...

EHR Education Vendor & Firm Capabilities 2023

Augmenting EHR Education Initiatives through Software and Services Offerings

Arch Collaborative research has validated education as one of the most impactful factors to the clinician EHR experience. With staffing shortages and limited resources aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations are looking to software vendors and services firms to help improve clinician EHR education. This report specifically examines services offerings and software solutions that can support healthcare organizations in their EHR education efforts.

This report is a compilation of vendor and firm claims about their services and software offerings. See KLAS’ follow-up report for customer validations of these offerings.

Anna Beyer | Friday, April 28, 2023

Mar 2023

Successful EHR Upgrades 2023

How to Maximize Impact and Prevent Clinician Frustration

EHR upgrades are vital for continually improving technology, meeting regulatory requirements, expanding functionality, increasing user efficiency, and ultimately improving patient care. Arch Collaborative data shows EHR upgrades can be very challenging for clinicians. Clinicians are often frustrated and feel disconnected from the EHR when changes happen unexpectedly or appear to drive little improvement. To help healthcare organizations make upgrades smoother and more impactful for users, this report shares insights on the widespread phenomenon of user frustration with upgrades and recommends steps organizations and EHR vendors can take to improve.

Anna Beyer | Friday, March 31, 2023

Mar 2023

Key Drivers of Clinician EHR...

Key Drivers of Clinician EHR Satisfaction 2023

Exploring the EHR Experience Metrics

Since 2017, the Arch Collaborative has used the Net EHR Experience Score (NEES) to measure and benchmark clinicians’ EHR satisfaction. This report breaks down what this score means and how the metrics behind it can help organizations pinpoint ways to improve clinicians’ experience with the EHR, thereby improving healthcare delivery and reducing burnout. Efforts to improve may involve addressing areas of opportunity directly, but they can also include addressing issues indirectly by targeting related factors.

Lauren Manzione | Friday, March 3, 2023

Jan 2023

The Science of Improving the EHR...

The Science of Improving the EHR Experience 2023

2023 Update

Since the Arch Collaborative was created in 2017, KLAS has had the opportunity to partner with almost 300 healthcare organizations to measure clinician perceptions of the EHR experience. These measurements represent over 340,000 clinician responses and have revealed key insights about common areas of satisfaction and frustration. Perhaps more importantly, by evaluating the lessons learned from organizations that have completed multiple measurements over time, we have identified a continuous improvement process that any organization can implement to help their clinicians better succeed with the EHR. Outlined below, this process relies significantly on the hard work of IT and informatics personnel, clinical leaders, and clinicians. Additionally, KLAS and the Arch Collaborative are there to help every step of the way.

Jacob Jeppson | Friday, January 6, 2023

Aug 2021

Individual Repeat Measurements

What High-Improvement Clinicians Teach Us about Advancing EHR Satisfaction

To date, over 45 Arch Collaborative organizations have used the EHR Experience Survey to measure their clinicians’ EHR satisfaction at least twice, capturing the repeat scores of over 30,000 clinicians. Between measurements, these organizations have implemented changes to training, technology, governance, and other areas in hopes of improving their end users’ EHR satisfaction. While previous Arch Collaborative reports (click here for the latest) have explored the impact of these changes at the organizational level, this report examines how the satisfaction of individual clinicians has improved or declined from measurement to measurement and what we can learn from clinicians who have seen the biggest increases.

Cole Duda | Friday, August 20, 2021

Jul 2021

Clinician Training 2021 Update

Clinician Training 2021 Update
Training is the backbone of user mastery (one of the three pillars of EHR satisfaction outlined in the Arch Collaborative 2020 Guidebook). The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted potential vulnerabilities for healthcare organizations as clinicians had to quickly adapt to new methods of care delivery, often without sufficient training.

Lauren Manzione | Friday, July 16, 2021

Dec 2020

Immediate Chart-Closure Rates

Immediate Chart-Closure Rates
The percentage of charts closed immediately after patient interactions is a simple measure of a complex idea: a provider’s ability to keep up with their workload, which is influenced by time, efficiency, and many other factors. Comparing immediate chart-closure rates to other indicators suggests that providers who report higher chart-closure rates also have higher Net EHR Experience Scores and lower levels of burnout. Furthermore, closure rates also correlate with factors such as a provider’s perception of the quality of their initial EHR education and the degree to which a provider has personalized the EHR.

Lauren Manzione | Friday, December 18, 2020

Oct 2020

Arch Collaborative Guidebook 2020

Arch Collaborative Guidebook 2020
A product of the October 2020 Arch Collaborative Summit, the Arch Collaborative Guidebook lays out the best practices identified in Collaborative data and shared by the most successful organizations in the Collaborative.

Connor Bice | Thursday, October 22, 2020

Jul 2020

The Nurse EHR Experience 2020

The Nurse EHR Experience 2020
Nurses are the lifeblood of healthcare, keeping organizations running while balancing the needs of patients and physicians. Though they are on average more satisfied with the EHR than their physician counterparts, nurses have unique EHR needs that may be overlooked when clinician EHR satisfaction is examined as a whole. Accordingly, this report focuses specifically on the EHR satisfaction feedback shared by the more than 70,000 nurses (from 189 unique organizations) who have completed the Arch Collaborative survey. These findings can help organizations pinpoint ways to better support nurses in their crucial roles.

Lauren Manzione and Anna Beyer | Friday, July 31, 2020

Jul 2020

EHR Satisfaction for Recent Go-Lives

How Does Time with an EHR Affect Satisfaction?

KLAS’ Arch Collaborative, which has collected EHR-satisfaction data from thousands of clinical end users from hundreds of health systems, has identified and documented three best practices that lead to increased EHR satisfaction. Dubbed the Three Pillars of EHR Satisfaction, these best practices include strong user mastery, an EHR’s ability to meet users’ unique needs, and an organizational sense of shared EHR ownership. This report shows that these best practices are applicable for any acute/ambulatory care organization—regardless of how recently (or not) they implemented their EHR.

Connor Bice and Cole Duda | Friday, July 10, 2020

May 2020

Providing High-Quality Care: The...

Providing High-Quality Care: The EHR Factors at Play
One of the biggest promises of EHRs is that they will help healthcare providers deliver higher-quality care to their patients—the main measure of healthcare success. But do they? This report shares frontline clinicians’ feedback on how well their EHR is living up to the promise of enabling high-quality care.

Matt Brunken | Friday, May 1, 2020

Sep 2019

Clinician Training

Clinician Training
KLAS Arch Collaborative Report Clinician Training - Follow-up EHR Education/Training

Bryant Wood & Anna Beyer | Friday, September 6, 2019

Aug 2019

Clinician Burnout

An Arch Collaborative Impact Report 2019

The Arch Collaborative’s primary focus is improving the EHR experience, and this experience involves the wellness of the clinician. Therefore, included in this study are two questions derived from the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Mini Z study. These two questions are correlated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which helps to properly identify when a clinician is burning out. All burnout findings in this report are shared through the lens of the impact of burnout on EHR satisfaction.This report is not a comprehensive analysis of the causes of clinician burnout, nor are its recommendations intended to be the primary solutions for this complex problem. Instead, this report is intended to show the developing relationship between burnout and EHR dissatisfaction. KLAS hopes the following insights add to a broader solution for taking care of those who continually offer care to others.

Connor Bice | Friday, August 2, 2019

Jul 2019

Arch Collaborative Guidebook 2019

Arch Collaborative Guidebook 2019
A product of the May 2019 Arch Collaborative Summit, the Arch Collaborative Guidebook lays out the best practices identified in Collaborative data and shared by the most successful organizations in the Collaborative.

Taylor Davis and Connor Bice | Thursday, July 25, 2019

Jun 2019

Improving EHRs Globally

Today, achieving EHR satisfaction is a global endeavor as digitization of patient records becomes more and more common throughout the world. This report aims to increase awareness of the similarities and differences in EHR challenges faced by US and non-US health systems. To date, 189 organizations across the globe have measured the feedback of their clinicians (totaling >90,000 responses) and have received benchmarking data comparing them to similar organizations. 13 of these organizations are outside the United States. Do non-US health systems have a different perception of their EHR compared to US organizations? And if there are differences, what can each group learn from the other?

In most ways, US and non-US health systems have similar experiences with their EHRs. For both groups, system reliability and internal integration are the two aspects of the EHR generating most satisfaction. The areas where more significant differences appear are efficiency (non-US health systems

Connor Bice | Friday, June 28, 2019

May 2019

2019 Summit Slides - Arch...

2019 Summit Slides - Arch Collaborative Learnings Part 1
With more responses from over 100,000 clinicians from more than 190 organizations, KLAS and the Arch Collaborative team have learned a ton! So much that we had to split the findings into two sessions. Here is part 1.