POLL 1

A recent HIMSS study identified four common factors that affect EHR projects. Of those, which most significantly impacts implementation?

• Funding 35.71%

• Governance 7.14%

• Standardization and interoperability 39.29%

• Communication 17.86%

Poll Comments:

9/10/08—Without exact standards across all media all the time, EHRs will not work … ever.

9/11/08—Doesn't matter how much money you have or what system, without the right governance, you are doomed.

9/11/08—I work for a non-profit agency and couldn't begin to think about purchasing an EHR without the help of a grant. For me, finding the funds was more important than the other choices. Standardization/universal interface is crucial to the success of communicating between health agencies also.

9/16/08—Communication has a significant impact on EHR projects. Internal and external communication is necessary to facilitate change and expectation management of a new or updated system. Governance plays a huge role in this effort. If governance is not established up front, then the communication chain is broken, from stakeholders and end users and vice versa.

POLL 2

• Yes, definitely 12.82%

• Possibly, depending on its success 56.41%

• No, it seems doubtful 23.08%

• Depends on the state 7.69%

Poll Comments:

8/13/08—I think it is a necessity.

8/13/08—Such low adoption success in previous implementations will cause many to slow down their plans until they figure out how to do it correctly before they move forward. Attempts at CPOE installation can be very costly and, if they fail, career limiting.

8/17/08—There are other states, such as Oklahoma, where RHIOs are taking hold. The next logical step would be to take advantage of this experience and expand to include CPOE and EHR projects/programs we are all installing.

8/18/08—There isn't a business case for providers to do this with existing vendors yet.

POLL 3

The recently introduced Health-e IT Act includes incentives of up to several million dollars for hospitals that install and utilize approved EMR systems. Will this result in increased adoption?

• Yes 55.17%

• Possibly 31.03%

• No 13.79%

Poll comments:

9/19/08—It would be beneficial.

9/19/08—Easy, paperless, cost effective and reliable.

9/19/08—While well-intentioned, this plan fails to place the incentive on the only group who, at this point, can drive increased e-health: the consumer. We have been trying the tops-down approach for more than 20 years (MRI/TEPR). It's time for a true paradigm change — patient engagement and patient control of their own health and healthcare. Provide an incentive for patients to adopt a PHR/PHMS and we'll see global change within a few years. Provide choices to the consumer as to where to store their PHI — their own PC or a flash drive or Web sites, and adoption will leap forward! Demand drives change.

9/19/08—The incentives have to offset the costs of implementation. This is still a steep barrier.

POLL 4

• Yes 70%

• No 15%

• Not sure 15%

Poll Comments:

8/27/08—I think it depends on whether they were given the appropriate amount of time to resolve the violation once it was identified.

8/27/08—What kinds of patient safety? Blatant acts that are universal should be fined. However, newer technologies may not have been adopted yet due to a number of reasons.

8/28/08—They need to take action, but 25K is probably too high.

9/2/08—Protected PHI is more important than some people understand.