Factors Associated With Electronic Health Record Usage Among Primary Care Physicians After Hours: Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: There is limited published data on variation in physician usage of electronic health records (EHRs), particularly after hours. Research in this area could provide insight into the effects of EHR-related workload on physicians. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to examine factors associated with after-hours EHR usage among primary care physicians. METHODS: Electronic health records usage information was collected from primary care pediatricians in a large United States hospital. Inclusion criteria consisted solely of being a primary care physician who started employment with the hospital before the study period, so all eligible primary care physicians were included without sampling. Mixed effects statistical modeling was used to investigate the effects of age, gender, workload, normal-hour usage, week to week variation, and provider-to-provider variation on the after-hour usage of EHRs. RESULTS: There were a total of 3498 weekly records obtained on 50 physicians, of whom 22% were male and 78% were female. Overall, more EHR usage during normal work hours was associated with decreased usage after hours. The more work relative value units generated by physicians, the more time they spent interacting with EHRs after hours (β=.04, P<.001) and overall (ie, during normal hours and after hours) (β=.24, P<.001). Gender was associated with total usage time, with females spending more time than males (P=.03). However, this association was not observed with after-hours EHR usage. provider-to-provider variation was the largest and most dominant source of variation in after-hour EHR usage, which accounted for 52% of variance of total EHR usage. CONCLUSION: The present study found that there is a considerable amount of variability in EHR use among primary care physicians, which suggested that many factors influence after-hours EHR usage by physicians. However, provider-to-provider variation was the largest and most dominant source of variation in after-hours EHR usage. While the results are intuitive, future studies should consider the effect of EHR use variations on workload efficiency.