The EMR Challenge... Collaboration!




Collaboration is key to successful EMR adoption

 I note the words of Richard Alvarez, president and CEO of Canada Health Infoway in today's Globe and Mail newspaper.

When asked why there wasn't faster uptake of Electronic Medical Records by Canadians, Mr. Alvarez replied:  “I would say it's not technology or money that's lacking but a culture of collaboration. Once you have that – ... anything is possible.”

That got me thinking...  He may be on to something there.  While I've always assumed that similar to when any new technology is introduced, the Technology Adoption Curve  applies.  There are going to be the "Early Adopters" followed by the "Early Majority", "Late Majority", and then, "The Laggards" (also referred to by some as "The Skeptics".  And it would appear by the statistics of late, that we're well into the Early Majority stage in Canada.  And the pace of moving from one stage to the next with respect to EMR is not totally unexpected, to me anyway.  We are, after all, a pretty conservative country, and we do like to think a little longer before making wide-sweeping changes.



However, I believe that Mr. Alvarez is really on to something when he suggests that a "culture of collaboration" is missing.




The Technology Adoption Curve & EMR



As a company that works to facilitate medical record storage for retiring, relocating and deceased physicians, RSRS also facilitates the transfer or medical records to the patients and/or to a new doctor.  It never ceases to amaze me how many doctors are still a little reluctant to relinquish copies of the records, to their patients, let alone to new doctors.  There seems to be a tendency to want to safeguard the information, and release it only as an edited summary.  The reason given is often something along the lines of:  "They don't need to see this or that..".  It's only when these physicians are reminded that the patient has a legal right to view the entire record, and in fact, is the legal owner of the information (not the paper though), that the physician reluctantly agrees.



Is it a fear of possible misdiagnosis?  Omission?  Wrong protocol?  I'm not really sure, and admittedly this issue comes up less with the younger doctors who have understood from day one that the records they keep are subject to inspection by a multitude of other authorized parties, not the least of which is their accrediting College of Physicians.

Collaboration is a necessity - certainly when it comes to health.  Physicians learn from other physicians.  They also learn from their patients, who are in the best position to communicate historical issues not immediately available in their medical records.  The patient really needs to have full access to their healthcare picture.  They don't need to understand it all, but they do need to be able to access it, and any good EMR system should have this accommodated.

I believe that the faster that the new breed of EMR's facilitate a safe environment of collaboration for both physician and patient alike, the sooner we move well into the "Late Majority" adoption phase for EMR's.