I’ve been thinking a lot about EHR software and the part it plays in the hospital IT ecosystem. The $36 billion of EHR stimulus money has shined a big light on EHR software. No doubt the EHR incentive money has increased EHR adoption, but at what cost. I wonder if the EHR incentive money has caused many hospital IT teams to place undue emphasis on the EHR software.
The reality of a hospital IT ecosystem is that they usually have hundreds of healthcare IT systems in their organization. The EHR is just one of those systems. In fact, it might not even be the largest system. Their ERP system (usually Peoplesoft or SAP in large hospitals) could be larger. However, try being system #90 at a hospital. Do you think the IT people at a large hospital system are paying much attention to what’s happening to that system? Not only are they distracted chasing the EHR incentive money, but even without that incentive there are 89 other systems in front of it.
I’m reminded of this Healthcare CIO Mindmap that I posted previously. It’s a great image of the amazing complexity that a healthcare CIO is facing. Each of the branches on that mindmap represent one or more IT systems that have to be managed by an organization. That’s a complex and challenging task.
I guess my message here is that while the EHR is extremely important to an organization, don’t lose track of all the other healthcare IT systems you support. They won’t likely be noticed in the short term, but transgressing these smaller health IT systems will create organizational debt that will be hard to overcome in the future.