Why the Electronic Health Record Continues to Have Pain Points for Physicians

Why the EHR Continues to Have Pain Points for Physicians

Though the EHR was hailed as a beneficial tool for physicians and does streamline processes such as medical records analysis, it has typical pain points.

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The electronic health record (EHR) was promoted as a great solution to ensure better, safer, and cheaper healthcare and was welcomed by healthcare providers as well as their supporting service providers such as firms providing medical review solutions. But has the EHR met the expectations it had kindled? Perhaps no, recent surveys and studies point out . The number of frustrated physicians is growing with the increasing drudgery associated with EHR documentation requirements. According to a recent Fortune magazine article “Death by a Thousand Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong,” electronic health records failed to meet their promise and have also led to many inadvertent and harmful consequences for physicians and the entire healthcare market .

The investigation by Fortune magazine and Kaiser Health News found the following negative aspects of the EHR. 

Patient harm: EHRs can unintentionally cause risks to patient safety. There have been reports of deaths, serious injuries, and many close calls associated with software problems, system flaws, and user errors. Most system-related errors are caused by flaws in the EHR software design. Many electronic health record templates do not have sufficient space for documentation that prevents healthcare professionals from taking detailed notes during patient visits. Faulty technology could prevent physicians from accessing important information such as lab results or imaging studies and delay treatment for patients. Wrong information may be transmitted by issues such as confusing displays and the auto-population feature. User errors include copy and paste errors by healthcare professionals which have increased in the last ten years . These copypaste errors compromise the integrity of the medical record .

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Interoperability challenges: Those who support the EHR highlight it as a flawless system that enables sharing of patient information among doctors and hospitals anywhere in the United States. This objective has not yet been achieved because the electronic health records available now are incompatible with each other and cannot exchange information.

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Fraud-prone systems: EHR software can be misused to inflate charges, federal officials point out. There are doctors and health systems that overstate their use of the new technology, which is a fraudulent activity against Medicare and Medicaid . Already two software vendors have paid more than $200 million to settle fraud allegations.

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Physician burnout: The documentation burden imposed by the electronic health record has led to physician frustration and burnout . Doctors are concerned that half their day is spent on typing rather than interacting with patients. This also results in patient dissatisfaction and overall poor quality healthcare.

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The “secrecy” issue: Software failures are kept out of public knowledge through contractual “gag clauses” that discourage EHR buyers from openly speaking about safety issues and unsuccessful software installations. Often, medical records are withheld from injured patients and their families.

Digital records have indeed improved healthcare delivery and introduced useful features such as drug allergy alerts that can prevent costly medical errors and patient harm. They have also helped streamline significant medical-legal processes such as medical records analysis performed by a medical record review company. However, they have also brought in their wake unanticipated safety risks and also led to grave errors in treatment . Usability challenges such as EHR design, how they are implemented, and the way clinicians use them have led to unintentional consequences. When medical errors and patient harm stem from the use of EHR, medical malpractice cases arise, jeopardizing physicians’ professional reputation. The electronic health record has a long way to go yet, and vendors need to work together to design flawless systems that can communicate with each other and improve the efficiency of physicians as well as ensure enhanced patient care.

www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com

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