An annual update to the EHR Matrix by LeadingAge CAST found that aging services providers have not advanced their use of electronic health records (EHRs) in the past year—a concerning trend. Advanced EHR capabilities enable interoperability and health information exchange, which have high potential to improve care coordination and quality of care.
The findings come from annual updates to the LeadingAge CAST 7-Stage EHR Adoption Model, which shows how sophisticated providers are in their use of EHRs. LeadingAge CAST has just released new updates to its Health Information Exchange (HIE) Selection Tool and Electronic Health Record (EHR) Selection Tool, to assist providers in choosing and using these technologies.
CAST 7-Stage EHR Adoption Model
To learn about aging services providers’ use of EHRs, CAST reaches out to EHR vendors each year. CAST asks how the vendors’ clients are using EHRs, as well as the percentage of their clients along the scale of EHR adoption.
The 2024 results are almost identical to last year’s. They show little to no advancement in the use of higher interoperable functionalities of EHRs. In 2024, the most providers (25%) are in Stage 5 of the scale, using a basic integration between the EHR and other external and ancillary systems. Nearly 20% of providers are in Stage 6, which enables providers to engage different members of the care team, including the physician and possibly the patient/resident/client, and offers basic information exchange capabilities. Yet only 8% fall into Stage 7, which represents the ideal full interoperability stage.
“This stagnation prompts critical questions about the obstacles and challenges (lack of funding) that organizations encounter in elevating their EHR systems to more advanced levels of interoperability,” said Scott Code, vice president of LeadingAge CAST.
| Stage |
Stage 1 |
Stage 2 |
Stage 3 |
Stage 4 |
Stage 5 |
Stage 6 |
Stage 7 |
| 2024 Weighted Average |
5.60% |
12.40% |
12.18% |
16.91% |
24.87% |
19.72% |
8.31% |
| 2023 Weighted Average |
6.66% |
11.06% |
11.10% |
18.95% |
23.74% |
20.19% |
8.31% |
| 2022 Weighted Average |
8.18% |
12.02% |
13.85% |
17.37% |
23.70% |
17.61% |
7.26% |
| 2021 Weighted Average |
6.83% |
10.95% |
12.02% |
17.27% |
23.81% |
20.84% |
8.29% |
| 2020 Weighted Average |
7.95% |
13.53% |
14.14% |
18.80% |
21.29% |
16.70% |
7.61% |
| 2019 Weighted Average |
5.76% |
10.92% |
12.65% |
16.73% |
23.91% |
21.40% |
8.91% |
| 2018 Weighted Average |
5.83% |
10.73% |
14.49% |
23.25% |
25.60% |
15.36% |
4.75% |
| 2017 Weighted Average |
6.25% |
14.10% |
12.73% |
23.39% |
20.16% |
18.09% |
5.24% |
| 2016 Weighted Average |
10.77% |
19.94% |
13.58% |
19.90% |
23.76% |
8.77% |
3.37% |
New Case Study for CAST EHR Selection Tool
LeadingAge CAST has reviewed and updated its and Electronic Health Record (EHR) Selection Tool and Health Information Exchange (HIE) Selection Tool, adding a new case study to the EHR tool.
“ECP Brings SAL Management Group Live in Under a Week” shows how an EHR implementation is increasing occupancy and level of care revenue.
The SAL (Shake a Leg) Management Group provides assisted living and a safe, home-like environment for residents in 19 communities across Utah. SAL partnered with ECP, a leading provider of Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR), Electronic Health Record (EHR), Billing, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. ECP is a LeadingAge Corporate Partner.
SAL sought to overhaul their operations and improve resident care. Their goals were to achieve rapid deployment, minimize disruption, and implement executive-level reporting with visibility into clinical, compliance, and business outcomes.
Successful Outcomes
SAL reports many successes from this implementation, including these:
- All 19 communities live in only two weeks, with quick and thorough training to increase staff buy-in.
- 12.4% increase in level of care revenue per resident per day.
- Increased occupancy; the number of communities below 80% occupancy dropped from four to one within a month.
The Sales and Marketing teams saw the following improvements with ECP’s CRM:
- Increased occupancy rates.
- Real-time census and occupancy dashboarding.
- Better sales metrics, going from zero closed deals in a month to seven closed deals in one week.
- Improved pricing and room availability visibility.
The Clinical team benefitted from ECP’s eMAR & EHR in the following ways:
- Transitioned from paper to eMAR.
- Increased care plan audit efficiency, streamlining financial operations and ensuring fair billing practices.
- Enhanced efficiency of Nursing Assessments.
- Digitized state compliance documentation.
- Increased collaboration with external providers.
- Streamlined discharge processes.
The finance team used ECP Billing with these results:
- Enhanced daily rate monitoring, with a 12.4% increase in level of care revenue per resident per day in the course of a year.
- Reduced time required to generate invoices by approximately two hours per month per accountant.
- Automated invoices, saving executive directors 38 hours each month.
- Increased revenue capture.
- Achieved more accurate revenue projections and management.
To learn more, read the full case study.
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