Health IT and Electronic Health
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How often are doctors switching from one EHR system to another?
I've encountered a number of physicians who are dissatisfied with their
current EHR. They'd like to switch to a different system, but they can't
justify the financial investment to switch. Plus, they're concerned
they may lose patient data during the data migration process.
How often to physicians switch EHR systems? I'd like to hear stories (both positive and negative).
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
November 20, 2010 2:35 AM
UPDATED:
December 15, 2010 4:32 am
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In most of the cases I have been involved in I have seen only a single switch. In most cases it is switching from a much older EHR or inexpensive one to a more robust system. The biggest challange in my experience is the data migration (here is a post I did recently on data migration http://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/healthitexchange/meaningfulhealthcareinformaticsblog/checklist-for-ehr-data-migration/). Having these physicians who have been used to having an electronic chart, so having the data available in the new system is important. I think in most cases the experience has been positive in the sense that most have had the opportunity to learn from first hand during the first EHR implementation.
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Currently I am an infrastructure architect on a system that is migrating from a failed EMR to a new EMR system. There is a team of programmers that are designing the data migration process and it is taking some time and effort. The cost of doing this is of course underestimated, but the benefits of moving to a better EMR out way those costs. Too often the short term costs override the decision of doing it right and the costs escalate so high that in order to finally make the decision to change is at the highest cost of doing so, and usually includes replacing those who were in charge of failing to make that decision in the first place.