If only doctors were meerly apathetic about EHR

For those who remember the television show M.A.S.H., this brief bit of dialogue was from Henry Blake to Hawkeye after one of Hawkeye’s patients died.

“There’s two rules about war. Rule 1–in war young men die. Rule 2–doctors can’t change Rule 1.”

There’s a similar way to apply that logic when it comes to EHR, HIT, and new IT systems.

Rule 1. If doctors don’t use them, the systems will die.

Rule 2. Simply having an EHR doesn’t change Rule 1.

A survey by Nuance Communications shows that 90% of doctors are concerned about the usability of EHR. Those results underscore the importance of process and changemanagement and training.

As I wrote previously, it’s not about the EHR, it’s about what you can do with it.

My person struggle with usability–We have a piano in our home even though nobody plays it. For some reason I’m not permitted to understand, we pay to have it tuned twice a year.

Paul M. Roemer
Chief Imaginist, Healthcare IT Strategy