In response to my post on CCHIT’s comments on the EHR Certification criteria, I got an email from Ryan Ricks. Ryan works for XLEMR and shared the following perspective on EHR adoption (or lack thereof) and the effects of the EHR stimulus money on it.

I do not want to delve into politics, but I think this is a classic example of what happens when government intrudes upon the private sector. Rather than speeding up EHR adoption, this whole process has caused the market to grind to a standstill because physicians are waiting for all of the details to become final. I’m sure other small companies have been negatively affected by this, not just us.

It has been very difficult to convince physicians to buy. I think physicians as a group are more concerned with avoiding the risk of purchasing a non-compliant system – rather than motivated by the reward of the stimulus money. Furthermore, we have noticed a significant lack of trust in the government. Many physicians don’t believe the money will be available, or they are worried about the “strings” that are attached. In addition, several physicians expressed a great deal of concern over the interoperability requirement – they want to protect their patient’s privacy.

Sadly, what Ryan describes is basically what I’ve seen happening with EHR adoption as well.