Primary Care Physicians’ Satisfaction With Interoperable Health Information Technology

Importance Enabling widespread interoperability—the ability of health information technology systems to exchange information and to use that information without special effort—is a primary focus of public policy on health information technology. More information on clinicians’ experience using that technology can serve as one measure of the impact of that policy. Objective To assess primary care physician perspectives on the state of interoperability. Design, Setting, and Participants A cross-sectional survey of family medicine physicians in the US was conducted from December 12, 2021, to October 12, 2022. A sample of family medicine physicians who completed the Continuous Certification Questionnaire (CCQ), a required part of the American Board of Family Medicine certification process, which has a 100% response rate, were invited to participate. Main Outcomes and Measures Eighteen items on the CCQ assessed experience accessing and using various information from outside organizations, including medications, immunizations, and allergies. Results A total of 2088 physicians (1053 women 50%; age reported categorically as either ≥50 years or lt;50 years) completed the CCQ interoperability questions in 2022. Of these respondents, 35% practiced in hospital or health system–owned practices, while 27% practiced in independently owned practices. Eleven percent were very satisfied with their ability to electronically access all 10 types of information from outside organizations included on the questionnaire, and a mean of 70% were at least somewhat satisfied. A total of 23% of family medicine physicians reported information from outside organizations was very easy to use, and an additional 65% reported that information was somewhat easy to use. Only 8% reported that information from different electronic health record (EHR) developers’ products was very easy to use compared with 38% who reported information from the same EHR developer’s product was very easy to use. Conclusions and Relevance This survey study of family medicine physicians found modest and uneven improvement in physicians’ experience with interoperability. These findings suggest that substantial heterogeneity in satisfaction by information type, source of information, EHR, practice type, ownership, and patient population necessitates diverse policy and strategies to improve interoperability.