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There's always something. Whether it's a pasture of COWs (computers on wheels) gathering dust, dead spots in your Wi-Fi coverage, or clinicians who want an unmanageable amount of customization, no EHR effort is without glitches. The nine providers below are doing about as well with EHRs as anyone-they are collecting meaningful use dollars, have reached Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EHR adoption model, or have won a HIMSS Davies award for their implementations.

Health Data Management asked CIOs and other technology leaders to share their experience: what they wish they had known when they began, what they would do differently, what they still struggle with.

While their suggestions ranged across all aspects, there was widespread agreement about one thing: don't skimp on screens. Reliant Medical Group started out with 17-inch and 19-inch screens at its vendor's recommendation. Director of Medical Informatics Lawrence Garber, M.D., wishes they were 23 inches, which is what the vendor is recommending currently. Tom Smith, CIO of NorthShore University HealthSystem, recommends two screens, one for data review and one for charting-and again, the bigger the better.

The tips continue in “EHR Success All in the Details,” a story from Elizabeth Gardner in Health Data Management’s May issue.