EHRs can be a great help to physicians, but their implementation is wrought with challenges. A poorly functioning EHR not only affects a physician’s efficiency; it can also impact a medical practice’s survival.
EHRs influence all aspects of a medical practice, including physician well-being. According to a 2020 Journal of Medical Internet Research study, 74.5% of physicians reported a connection between EHRs and burnout. Although EHRs do have benefits like reduced reliance on paper and lower administrative costs, they increase clerical burdens for physicians, like data entry, that negatively affect stamina.
Scattered Patient Information
According to Gaurav Sharma, EMR manager at GoHealth Urgent Care, navigating and mastering EHRs necessitates tremendous time and effort. Honolulu-based EHR specialist Katelyn O’Brien, MBA, has spent the last 10 years working on EHR implementation. She notes that EHR systems scatter patient information. This, in turn, creates a virtual hide-and-seek game to assess medical history, a huge burden for physicians.
Sharma sees a possible solution in sectioning-off EHR issues into three categories: pre-registration/registration, clinical documentation, and simplified billing/coding. Optimizing the gathering of patient information during pre-registration/ registration allows physicians to focus on patient care. Sharma also suggests that every EHR should contain speech recognition software or scribes, which would simplify a practice’s clinical documentation process.
Reducing ‘Click Fatigue’
Regarding billing/coding, Sharma suggests simplifying it, asserting that responding to a small number of EHR questions should generate an accurate suggested Evaluation Management code. According to Sharma, user experience design also plays a key role in streamlining physician interaction with EHRs. If EHRs are designed with accuracy and speed, they will be more efficient by reducing “click fatigue,” with less time needed for data input.
Healthcare policymakers play a significant role in EHR reformation. According to a MedStar Health News publication, there are three main points to reforming EHR. First, policies should require vendors to test EHRs for usability. Second, permission must be granted for healthcare organizations to join vendors in every usability and safety testing opportunity. Third, policies should mandate that vendors report all safety or usability problems in a timely fashion.
As O’Brien sees it, successful EHR reform must ultimately result in physicians being able to focus their time and energy on what matters most—patient care.
