CIO Latest to Fall in Troubled Health System's EMR Implementation
Another executive is leaving Athens (Ga.) Regional Health Systems, with senior vice president and CIO, Gretchen Tegethoff resigning over the botched implementation of the organization's Cerner electronic health record (EHR) system.
Tegethoff's departure, reported by local media outlets, comes after James “Jamey” Thaw, the health system's CEO, resigned earlier this week. The Athens Banner-Herald reported that no other details of Tegethoff's resignation were made available to staff members and/or the local media.
The trouble for Thaw and Tegethoff began when the system rolled out its Cerner system. The EHR was announced as going live on May 4 in a news release by Athens Regional Health Systems. A few weeks later, the Athens Banner-Herald reports that more than a dozen physicians affiliated with the system sent a letter to Thaw and Tegethoff noting their concerns with the EHR. They said the EHR install was too aggressive, there was a lack of readiness among users, and patient safety was at risk.
Thaw said that there was a "swift response" to those concerns. However, one week after the letter from the practitioners was sent, the doctors voted unanimously in having no confidence in the present hospital administration, Flagpole.com reported.
