I almost fell out of my chair when I had this conversation last night with a reasoned and responsible IT executive at one of the best known hospitals in the US. I’m paraphrasing only because my on-the-fly stenography skills are non-existent.
ME: “What is the hospital’s plan for linking outside specialists and physicians to your EHR?”
HOSPITAL: “The term “plan” may be overly optimistic.”
ME: “How so?” I asked with a bit of intrigue.
HOSPITAL: “A lot of the doctors like to program as a hobby.”
ME: “You’re kidding, right?”
HOSPITAL: “No. We have a number of people building their own EHR.”
ME: “So, in effect you guys have lots of CIOs. That should be fun watching you make that work.”
Clearly that’s not the real implication, but it does go a long way to the need for an EHR Czar, even within the confines of a single provider.
