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.