Dealing with EHR Dissatisfaction (Part 4)

This post is a continuation; Part 1 is at this link. In this post, I describe a vision of an ideal EHR system that can developed today.

Based on the complaints about EHRs, one can conclude that there would be increased satisfaction if EHRs are thought to be a component of an all-encompassing HIT system. This next-generation computerized system would manage clinical information, as well as administrative data, in a way that increases provider efficiency, enables providers to deliver high-value (cost-effective/safe/quality) preventive and acute care and rewards them for doing so, assists patients/consumers in taking better care of themselves (self-maintenance), and promotes population health.

So, imagine coming together to build a novel EHR-based HIT system that continuously improves clinical and economic outcomes by (in no particular order):

• Capturing clinical information accurately and automatically at point-of-care in real time in a way that requires little effort and workflow change

• Clearly presenting—to clinicians and patients—the biomedical, psychosocial (biopsychosocial) and economic information they need to: (a) bridge the knowledge gap (http://wellness.wikispaces.com/The+Knowledge+Gap) ; (b) make wise prophylactic, diagnostic, and treatment decisions; and (c) promote patient-centered cognitive support (http://curinghealthcare.blogspot.com/2009/06/meaningful-use-clinical-decision.html)

• Enabling networks of collaborators to: (a) perform clinical research in the field and lab through the streamlined collection, sharing, and analysis of large quantities of diverse clinical data; (b) build evolving health science knowledgebases with for clinical research, which transform this knowledge into evidence-based practice guidelines/protocols/pathways; (c) promote the continuity and coordination of care; (d) share observations, lessons learned, and best practices; and (e) effectively run PCMHs and ACOs

• Integrating sick care with well care (see http://wellness.wikispaces.com/Tactic+-+Well-Care+Sick-Care+Integration)

Also imagine that this next-generation EHR system:

• Facilitates ongoing biosurveillance and post-market drug & medical device surveillance

• Streamlines mandatory regulatory reporting.

• Connects providers/clinicians to one another in (a) loosely-coupled, occasionally connected, near-real-time, asynchronous, peer-to-peer mesh networks (e.g., DIRECT e-mail) and (b) tightly-coupled, continuously-connected, real-time networks (e.g., corporate VPNs)

• Secures PHI while it’s being exchanged (in transit) and while stored in a device (at rest), as well as protecting patient privacy

• Provides a hybrid approach to information access and exchange that includes Web-based tools, services and deidentified information stores in the cloud, along with standalone applications on users’ devices

• Provides useful business intelligence

I claim that, by working together, we can realize the vision described above by adding common off-the-shelf HIT tools and custom-built applications to EHRs. I know how this can be done!

Part 5 examines the question: When it comes to EHRs, whose satisfaction is important?