It’s my first day at EHR Scope, and posting on this blog will be one of my routine activities. I have a graduate degree in Health Communications, but surprisingly feel somewhat left behind in this rapidly growing health IT industry. That being said, I might have a lot in common with you, the physician, administrator, health care professional, or lay person knowledgeable about health IT, but in a tailspin trying to keep up with the quickly changing information available. I invite you to join me on this blog, as I deeply explore the evolution of health IT and its most newsworthy changes.
Today, I’d like to discuss one of the major barriers to the adoption of EHR technology in the medical office: Change.
Change is inevitable in medicine. The only direction to move is forward, and quickly so. Swift advances in technology are merging with support for health IT from the new Obama administration. The projected economic benefits of health IT are abundant with low estimates that health IT will save at least $12 billion over 10 years. Furthermore, President Obama has set a goal that every American have an electronic health record by 2014. EHR technology is no longer a suggestion or luxury: it is becoming the necessity in the practice of modern medicine.
When talking about the necessity of change, I metaphorically think of Mr. Charles Darwin. Those in science and medicine should know his mantra quite well: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
The evolution of medicine and technology is here to stay. Don’t let the fear of change leave you behind. Make Darwin proud: Accept that health IT changes are necessary to survive in modern medical practice; respond by making informed decisions about which EHR technology is best for your needs; and adapt to your new EHR environment. System change is not easy, but with the correct EHR technology this change is doable and worthwhile.
In the current political climate surrounding health IT, information and knowledge is power. I look forward to your readership and thoughtful comments.
Tags: ARRA, ehr, emr, Health Information Technology, HIT, HITECH Act
2 Comments
robin - Oct 30, 2009
Boy, have you hit the nail on the head. Talk about a slow turning ship, hospitals have been working on a paperless chart for years. An EMR does make sense although there are issues to work out. Change is hard, the status quo feels good and moving outside of that is uncomfortable. Knowledge is power, thanks for starting the discussion!
Thomas M. Lee - Nov 18, 2009
Excellent points. And your Darwin example can be applied to all business sectors (i.e., the buggy whip industry). To steal a quote from former UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, “Failure is not fatal. But failure to change, might be.”