The lack of involvement from end-users is one of the chief reasons there was a significantly botched implementation of the electronic medical record (EMR) system at Athens (Ga.) Regional Health Systems, according to a new report in the Athens Banner-Herald.
The botched EMR implementation was reportedly one of the main reason James “Jamey” Thaw, the health system's CEO, resigned a few weeks ago and senior vice president and CIO, Gretchen Tegethoff resigned a few days after Thaw. After the failed EMR implementation, doctors in the health system had lost confidence in the administration. They called the EMR rollout too aggressive and said the system led to medication errors and put patients at risk.
A report in the Athens Banner-Herald from over the weekend detailed some of the issues that led to the failed EMR implementation. In an interview Athens' senior vice president and CMO, James L. Moore, said that some of the qualms from doctors on the EMR were real and some were theoretical. The real issues included missed medication doses and lab tests not coming through. He says that as a result of those mistakes, "everybody became hyper-vigilant."
In an interview in the Athens Banner-Herald, Cerner vice president Michael Robin said that end-users were not involved enough with the implementation process. The typical successful project, he told the paper, includes doctors in the project. Another Cerner executive interviewed for the piece concurred and noted that workflow and design should have been decided by physicians and not the IT staff. Robin said that right now clinicians are driving the project and getting it back on track.
