As many as 17 percent of all currently implemented physician practices are considering changing electronic health record (EHR) vendors by the end of 2013, according to a new report from market researcher Black Book Rankings.

For the report, 17,000 medical practices that actively use EHR systems were surveyed. Of those users considering a switch, 80 percent said the solution does not meet the individual needs of the practice, including workflow; 79 percent said the practice did not adequately assess its own needs needs before selecting the original EHR; and 77 percent said the EHR design is not suited for their practice's specialties. Additionally, eight percent of responders said they are dissatisfied enough to make a change, but cannot afford to do so.

Providers in nephrology (88 percent), urology (85 percent) and ophthalmology (80 percent) said that their EHR system failed to meet their needs, while the greatest satisfaction rates were from providers in internal medicine, family medicine, and general practice.  

“The high performance vendors that will emerge as viable past 2015 are those dedicating responsive teams to address customers’ current demands,” Black Book’s managing partner Doug Brown said in a statement. Brown also said that the “meaningful use incentives created an artificial market for dozens of immature EHR products.”