the blow. Individual providers "who adopt, implement, upgrade or
demonstrate meaningful use" of certified EHR technology may
receive $44,000 to $63,750, while hospitals may be eligible to receive
more than $2 million.
"It will detract from our ability to focus on the patient." During
the transition period, it's common for users to be more focused
on following the new steps required to fill out or retrieve information
from a patient record, as opposed to truly engaging the patient. Early
on you may be preoccupied with the screen in front of you, but the
process tends to become second nature over time.
"It will expose us to hackers and other threats to patient pri-
vacy." We've all seen the stories about hackers targeting health-
care organizations and holding them ransom. Some providers have
restricted any remote access to lessen the threat, but my sense is that
most organizations are so dispersed that they don't have that luxury.
The other issue concerns the potential for in-house HIPAA violations.
It's easy to photocopy or steal a patient's paper record. With EHRs,
most systems have levels of security that let you track anyone who
has accessed a particular record, so there are built-in protections. Put
another way, I would argue that EHRs would decrease privacy issues.
"It will take too much time to use it effectively." Third-party
educators and in-house "super users" can help to educate nurses,
residents, surgeons and anyone else who will be using the system.
Most EHR systems aren't designed with the proceduralist in mind, so
surgeons tend to know just enough about the system to get them
through the workday. An educator or super user can show you how to
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 1
