Will-o’-the-Wisp Optimism about EHR

Comment by PaulRoemer Dec 14, 2010, 11:36 AM EST

I think many of the definitions of “using” mean the EHR vendor has left the building, and so by default physicians are “using” the system.

If you happen to be one of the many hospitals whose productivity has declined by twenty percent two years after the EHR implementation, that does not constitute use, and it certainly does not constitute meaningful use, at least in any way that is meaningful to the hospital. Practice management systems are still in disarray, and the business processes are probably less effective than before the hospital spent eight or nine figures to get usability below where it had been. That’s not much of an ROI under any standards.

Some CFOs believe they can create an ROI by adding back the incentive money they may or may not receive. They should also figure in what the cost is of such a large productivity loss.

They are then faced with answering the question about how they will implement an ACO model on top of processes that have been made more ineffective due to implementing EHR.

While optimism is nice, it may be very misguided.