Healthcare Information Technology Research & Analysis : Coplan & Company : IT Procurement Management, Project Management, System Acquisition

On March 25, 2009, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) confirmed that we continue to have low Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system adoption rates in our nation’s hospitals.

I’ve posted several times about previous studies confirming this.  For example, the 2008 Annual Hospital Survey from the Leapfrog Group and the NEJM 2008 study on Electronic Health Care Records In Ambulatory Care made this same point in different care settings.  

The healthcare industry just doesn’t get it. One comment from the American College of Physician Executives 2009 Health Care Technology Survey summarizes why we are so unsuccessful:  

My physician and administrative staff has been requesting an EMR for 4 years. We are continually met with the response from IT, “it’s too hard to integrate the systems, we don’t have the resources”, I find it ironic that we continue to meet increased patient demand - efficiency and care measures - while trying to limp along with IT systems that are woefully inadequate. Those in charge of IT decisions are not involved in clinical care and are not await [sic] of the front line user problems/issues. When these issues are brought forward, the IT department appears to carry more weight than patient clinical care…

We need to combine project, technology and change management disciplines to be successful with HIT. Why do we keep missing this critical point?