There is a real opportunity here for EMR innovators to step up. It isn’t the size of the vendor that matters; it’s their customer centric approach. EMR systems must be adaptable to physician work flow. They must align to the process and business needs of the small 1-5 ambulatory practice as well as the large IDN.....
I’ve been involved in EMR since early adoption. I quickly found out that in order to create sustainable value for the EMR, I needed to listen to the end user, and adapt the EMR to work for each role, from front desk to back office. More times than not, the vendor told me “Let the trainers do that, and move on to the next one”. However, two days on site or three in a classroom wasn’t enough to create sustainable usability. Trainers provided script training, nothing more. This left physicians and clinicians to finish documentation at night or on weekends. EMR cost more, created more work, and left the practice scrambling to see the same patient load every day. It quickly became a money pit of financial disaster.
I’ve been involved in EMR since early adoption. I quickly found out that in order to create sustainable value for the EMR, I needed to listen to the end user, and adapt the EMR to work for each role, from front desk to back office. More times than not, the vendor told me “Let the trainers do that, and move on to the next one”. However, two days on site or three in a classroom wasn’t enough to create sustainable usability. Trainers provided script training, nothing more. This left physicians and clinicians to finish documentation at night or on weekends. EMR cost more, created more work, and left the practice scrambling to see the same patient load every day. It quickly became a money pit of financial disaster.
I accompanied providers into exam rooms, or lurked
right outside them, sometimes waiting in the physician office to play “Catch
up” with the progress note. I created
short cuts and favorite lists, customized templates and typed up my own cliff
notes version of the user guides. I catered to personal preference, aligning
the EMR to role based workflow, process and practice need. My objective was not to create an EMR user, but
to create a referenceable account. And I
did that over and over again from vendor to vendor, application to application.
It wasn’t rocket science. It was taking available technology and aligning it
specifically to the needs of the end user. It wasn’t always simple and it
wasn’t always replicable. But it was always worthwhile.
Whether the
fault rests on the corporate vendors or end users is unclear. However, it is
clear that people have to understand the process, and be able to create a
product that aligns to usability in a real time scenario. Creating
relationships means an investment on the part of the vendor. Creating usable
software means listening to the people who actually use it. Many see Meaningful
Use as a “Bribe” to get Physicians to use EMR systems, because they just can’t
or won’t do it otherwise.
There is a
real opportunity here for EMR innovators to step up. The
construction of a sustainable ecosystem delivers value to the end user. Value
is defined in the creation of an adaptable, flexible platform that is
interoperable, physician friendly, and scalable to the environment. It’s the same scenario we faced
during early adoption. It takes people with a customer centric approach, who
listen to the real life challenges of practicing medicine, Then take the
time needed to work with clinicians and physicians. It’s through this shared responsibility that
EMR companies remain sustainable. Its through this shared responsibility that everybody wins.