Physicians May Not Be Willing to Go the CPOE Route
The chief information officers of hospitals are not as optimistic now as they were a couple of months back about their ability to conform to federal needs for the meaningful use of EMR (Electronic Medical Records). According to them, the biggest challenge of all is getting physicians to utilize CPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry) systems.
A survey taken November 8-22, 2010 by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives revealed that 15% of the 191 surveyed CHIME members were of the opinion that their hospitals would be ready by Oct 1, 2011 to receive financial support under meaningful use. That figure dropped down by almost half when another CHIME survey made known that 28% of hospital CIOs were optimistic about satisfying meaningful adoption by the same date asked in the later survey.
In CPOE, physicians don’t pen a note or dictate for others to perform the task. They type the orders themselves. According to Pam McNutt, senior vice president and CIO of Methodist Health System in Dallas, “Physicians fundamentally think, ‘For me to have to track down a computer or to get a handheld device or take something around with me and sit there and enter orders is not as convenient as having a clipboard and prescription pad.”
Another reason may be cited for the physicians’ unwillingness to welcome CPOE with open hands. These healthcare people get paid on a per-visit or per-person basis in the hospital. If they feel that there is something that is more time-consuming but with no added value, it would be hard to convince them about the use of doing it.
Only time will tell if physicians would see value in CPOE and use this knowledge to educate others like them.
Julie Clements, OSI’s Vice President of Operations, brings a diverse background in healthcare staffing and a robust six-year tenure as the Director of Sales and Marketing at a prestigious 4-star resort.