One of the biggest complaints surrounding the implementation of an EMR is the way the EMR software handles the documentation method. Beyond just the learning curve, there are plenty of EMR software that have a terrible user experience.
While I don’t want to totally let EMR vendors off the hook, I do think it’s worth noting that EMR vendors aren’t completely to blame for the unwieldy interfaces. I believe one of the biggest reasons that the EMR documentation interfaces are so terrible is thanks to the crazy insurance billing and documentation requirements.
Seriously, it’s a total mess. Everyone that’s involved with insurance billing in healthcare knows what I’m talking about. Trying to code an application that’s easy to use, works well for the doctors and still handles all the insurance billing and documentation requirements is a serious challenge and so it’s not surprising why so many EMR software fails to deliver a great user experience.
That’s not to say that all EMR software have terrible user experiences. Although, let’s be honest that they’re taking on a nearly impossible task. I guess I compare the insurance documentation and billing requirements to cleaning a toilet. Nobody really likes to do either. Yet, they’re absolutely necessary jobs. Certainly there are some tools that can make cleaning a toilet easier (gloves, wands, cleaning solutions, etc). However, it’s still a task that isn’t fun to do no matter how you slice it (unless you pay someone else to do it, but the pain of the expense is still there). The billing and documentation parts of an EMR software are trying to do the same thing: make a task that no one likes easier. Unfortunately, using an EMR isn’t going to change a task that no one likes into something fun.
I hope that EMR vendors don’t use this as an excuse to not focus on creating usable software. It’s NOT! However, I think it’s important to consider the true impact of the EMR. Is it really the EMR software that is so bad or did you hate these parts of practicing medicine before having an EMR as well?
If you find that it’s the EMR software that’s so bad, then hopefully you were smart in the contract you signed with your EMR vendor (see the EMR contract section of my Free EMR Selection e-Book). You won’t be the first or the last practice to switch EMR vendors.
Of course, if the complicated insurance billing and documentation is the problem. Maybe Obamacare’s single payer insurance plan will help to solve that issue. At least there would only be one organization to deal with.
I agree with this and have a blog coming involving the insanity of insurance documentation rules that leads to poor user interface experiences with EMRs.
We just instituted EMR after a 3 year search for the best software out there…what a nightmare. This is a true step-backward. Computers are not intelligent enough yet to help us with documentation. Clicking a million tabs and having to enter everything in different locations, only to build a “note” later, all to comply with some insurance requirements for billing and documentation does nothing but take away from the doctor/patient experience. I am totally disgusted by this turn of events. Maybe 100 years from now when we have computers that can understand natural language and act on it (though we may have other problems in store for us if that ever comes to be! Terminator, anyone?)