DOCtalk by Dr. Gregg 10/21/13

HIT Adoption Signs: Top Ten, Bottom Ten

Everybody and their brother seem to have jumped on the “Top Ten List” bandwagon these days. From the archetypal nightly comedic lists of Dave Letterman to the overly-used, attention-grabbing lists of Cosmopolitan magazine to The Huffington Post’s “Top Ten List of Top Ten Lists” (for heaven’s sake…really?) people just seem to flock to listed material. Thus, I created a couple of my own for HIT adoption.

I was going to go with the typical top ten thing, but it seemed the bottom ten also had a certain draw. I think you’ll see why.

Top Ten Things You Like to Hear After HIT Adoption

1) From your staff – “OMG, this EHR has made my job so much better.”

2) From your non-techy staff – “I would NEVER go back to paper.”

3) From your referral colleagues – “Your EHR generates really beautiful, easy-to-read reports.”

4) From your spouse – “It’s so nice to have you home every night at a decent hour.”

5) From your child – “Dad and mom always make it to my soccer games.”

6) From your accountant – “You paid off your EHR investment really fast. Great ROI!”

7) From your IT buddy – “This is a really well-designed piece of software.”

8) From your EHR vendor – “We just completed the interface to your local HIE. No charge.”

9) From your patient – “Doc, I just love your new patient portal! It is really useful.”

10) From yourself – “I can’t believe I waited so long to do this.”

And, now, on the other end…

The Bottom Ten

1) From your staff – “This EHR stuff sucks. I quit!”

2) From your spouse – “You’ve become unbearable. I’m leaving you for your lawyer.”

3) From your children – “Who are you?’

4) From referral colleagues – “Your chicken-scratch handwritten notes were more useful than those obnoxiously long, templated notes you burden us with now.”

5) From your accountant – “You paid how much for this?!”

6) From a young patient – “Mommy, how come doc never looks up at us anymore when we visit?”

7) From a patient – “Since you’ve gone electronic, I recognize you from the back better than I do from the front.”

8) From your EHR vendor – “Your product has been sunsetted.” Or, “We’re bankrupt.”

9) From yourself – “Bankruptcy doesn’t look so bad.”

10) From your lawyer – “Sorry about the spouse-stealing thing. See you in court.”

From the trenches…

“I didn’t care whose name was on it; I just wanted to get in that Top Ten.” – Terry Melcher

Dr. Gregg Alexander, a grunt in the trenches pediatrician at Madison Pediatrics, is Chief Medical Officer for Health Nuts Media, an HIT and marketing consultant, and sits on the board of directors of the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP).