The challenges of switching EHRs

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. 

That’s the attitude of many physicians when they think about replacing their  electronic health record (EHR) system, and it may explain a seeming contradiction in the results of Medical Economics’ 2016 EHR Report Card: while 60% of ambulatory EHR system users either dislike their system or are neutral about it, and nearly half say they wouldn’t recommend it to a colleague, only 15% of respondents say they’re considering switching to another system in the next year.

 

Related: 7 tips to stop technology from damaging the patient experience

 

The reluctance to change EHRs is well-founded, according to those who have done it. Much like going digital for the first time, moving to a new EHR system is almost always time-consuming and disruptive to office workflow. It also involves many of the same costs, in terms of lost productivity and the time required for staff training on the new system.

But switching EHRs includes an additional challenge, and expense: that of transferring patient data from the old system to the new one. 

Plus, given the shortcomings of virtually all EHRs, practices face the distinct possibility of ending up no happier or more productive with their new system than they were with the previous one-especially if they don’t do their homework.

“Switching to a new system is a big investment, and you’re impacting practice viability if you’re laying out hundreds of thousands of dollars every few years for a new system,” says Titus Schleyer, DMD, PhD, director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana. “So you need to be very careful and prepare for your switch well.” 

 

EHR switching likely to grow 

The number of practices looking to change EHRs is likely to grow in the coming years, for a variety of reasons. EHR use among primary care doctors began increasing at a rapid rate in 2011 when Meaningful Use funds first became available. 

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