Every year, Black Book Market Research releases 2015 healthcare industry surveys across multiple specialties, ranking the top electronic health record vendors in each specialty. We’re thrilled to announce that Nextech's MDIntelleSys solution was ranked as the No. 1 Ophthalmology EHR vendor in Black Book’s 2015 Ophthalmology Survey! This newest accolade adds to what has already been a very exciting year for Nextech as we’ve introduced new tools, solutions and improvements since January. Here are the additional top rankings Nextech received from Black Book’s 2015 Ophthalmology Survey.

Ever wonder what state uses an electronic health record the most? Well, now we know. A survey conducted by Black Book Market Research analyzed how many medical practices -- of any size, specialty and location -- utilized their "EHR beyond basic functionalities" in each state.

A recent study conducted and released by NetSfere Enterprise Messaging took a close look at how messaging apps are being used in today’s business world. Some of the study’s findings regarding security practices are, unfortunately, rather disturbing. Based in these findings, it would seem that many healthcare businesses and organizations who handle PHI (providers, practices, insurers, and payers alike) are playing HIPAA-Russian roulette when it comes to the use of mobile SMS/MMS tools.

In a new study from the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), it appears patients are being offered access to their electronic medical records and increasingly choosing to check them as well. The new numbers from 2014 report that approximately 40 percent of patients were offered access and nearly half of those patients eventually followed through on checking their EMRs. Just one year ago, only 28 percent of patients were offered access to their EMR and a slight less amount of patients -- 46 percent -- actually accessed them.

All this talk about EHR adoption, but consumers and patients aren't missing out on using healthcare technology either. According to a report from The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, 22 percent of consumers used technology to access, store and transmit health records in the last year, up from 13 percent in 2013. Additionally, 32 percent of those with chronic conditions were utilizing healthcare technology, representing an increase from 19 percent in 2013.

According to EHR Software BuyerView 2015, a survey conducted by Software Advice, the number of physicians switching EHR systems has grown exponentially over the past year. Since 2010, the majority of physicians (63 percent) purchasing EHRs were looking to replace paper systems, mainly due to government regulations. However, that trend has been reversed now as approximately 60 percent of EHR buyers are already using EHRs.

A growing number of physicians are implementing electronic medical records (EMR) in their respective practices. The increase in EMR adoption, however, also brings a great chance of dissatisfaction in current solutions, whether it's merely one feature or the entire software. Capterra conducted a survey to measure EMR usage and to dive into the details of why physicians are switching.

In the early development of EMR systems, a surprisingly small amount of vendors seem to have anticipated just how important the ability to offer integration between EMR and Practice Management (PM) software would become in only a few short years. These days, using a fully integrated EMR and PM solution is not viewed as a mere convenience—it has quickly become the standard in Dermatology.