Twitter has been circulating tweets discussing whether EMR is a disappointment in the USA. I find the question really intriguing. I’m sure the doctors who have their EMR and love the benefits they’ve gotten from EMR think its far from a disappointment. The doctors that have an EMR forced on them or select one that kills their workflow likely see EMR as a huge disappointment. Whether EMR is a disappointment in the US starts with which group you think is larger.
My personal gut feeling is that it’s likely split somewhere down the middle. About half of doctors are satisfied with their EMR, and half of doctors are unsatisfied (some might use a much harsher word) with their EMR software.
Does that mean that EMR is a disppointment in the US? I’d have to say it does.
Although, I think that disappointment is the right word. It’s not that I think we shouldn’t be doing EMR. We absolutely should be making physician documentation electronic. As I’ve been starting to highlight in my EMR Benefit Series on EMR and HIPAA, there are some major issues with paper charts that are easily solved with EMR.
The reason EMR has a been a disappointment to date is that EMR implementations can be so much better than they are today.
I believe we are sitting on so much possibility when it comes to how healthcare IT can transform healthcare. For a myriad of reasons, we’re not seeing that potential and quite frankly that’s disappointing.