One of the things I’ve heard doctors say over and over and over again is:
Did this EHR vendor consult doctors?
I must admit that it’s kind of ironic statement to me. Mostly because the straight forward answer is really easy, but that answer misses what the doctor is really saying.
The Easy Answer
Yes! Every single EHR vendor has consulted a doctor. Every one of them has doctors on staff, on an advisory board, testing their EHR software, using their EHR software, and most have all of the above. They have boards of doctors involved in the development. They have advisory boards. Every EMR works and consults with doctors in creating their product.
The Real Message
What the doctor is really trying to say when they say this is: This EMR software doesn’t have the workflow that I and my doctor friends use or This EMR software doesn’t work the way that I think it should work.
The problem with all of this is that I can’t say I’ve ever seen two doctors work the same way. So, pretty much every doctor is going to have some issue with every EHR software. Plus, even if you consult a doctor, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the doctors working for the EHR are: 1. Great at making EHR software 2. Representative of the general doctor population 3. Good at abstracting workflow so it can work across various doctors 4. etc.
Considering the number of people who’ve said the above statement, obviously some doctors (the ones many EHR vendors consulted) aren’t good at a number of those things. So, maybe we should change the question to: “Did this EHR vendor consult the right doctors?”