An EMR vendor saw my question, “Has EMR helped?” and they sent it to one of their EMR users to get some feedback. Here’s their response:
I am absolutely in the camp where this transition to EMR has been helpful. Long and steep learning curve but the benefits of accessing readable notes and histories and helping patients off hours has all been great. I believe I am writing better notes and noticing HCM issues more, and I hope the drug interactiion piece will be helpful down the road also.
SO, yes, this has been great.
I’d love to hear more people’s response to the question: “Has EMR helped?”
Nice feedback from the client. Amazing… the doc focused on how the EMR improved the practice!
Didn’t mention financial aspects at all!
If the client has gotten to this point … was probably before ARRA incentivization. Wonder if the client has their own internal metrics for effective implementation/employment that they pay more attention to than worrying about CMS’s meaningful use definitions?
This person has been on EMR for 2 years. So, definitely pre ARRA incentivization.
John… Since the practice’s determination was pre-ARRA it would be valuable to understand this type of client’s decision process and priorities since their implementation decision (as with ~15% of other practices) was done absent the ARRA incentivation.
My fear you know is that practices will make EHR determinations and priorities based on ARRA incentivization payments which are based on ‘fog and smoke’ of achieving meaningful use.
Practices should implent an EHR which when integrated within their practice IT ‘domain’ meets the its priorities and performance objectives ahead and independant of HEIT meaningful use incentivization.
During the Meaningful Use webcast I viewed last week there was commentary about the amount of rework that was going to be required by a major health care network with most of its 44 secondary health care facilities already up and running. Rework at the medium to small group practice level will considerable expense and new time investment commitment by practitioners and staff.
All effected or interested entities need to make comment on ‘meaningful use regulations’ to CMS prior to the 15 March cutoff to ensure your voice is heard.
That’s why I keep linking people to my list of EMR benefits: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/benefits-of-emr-or-ehr-over-paper-charts/ Interestingly, I haven’t listed the ARRA EMR stimulus money on that list.
I note a post at http://www.EMRscout.com about “EHRs are the problem”. I wrote what is regarded as the first PM/EMR for Windows in the very early 90’s. In the past 20 years now, has the state-of-the-art changed at all?
We built the amazing new CircleBath (http://bit.ly/9FCQoK) around the premise of EMR. Throughout the whole process of designing a whole new hospital, not one person has resorted to discussing the financial benefits of EMR… the benefits are so blatantly obvious (like most breakthrough technologies) that you should just do it. Building architects, doctors, nurses, radiographers, administrators, managers… and patients. Why are we still questioning this as an industry? It’s like asking whether CRM is useful to retail.