Today, 78% of U.S. hospitals still use paper records.
There are many reasons for this statistic, but chief among them is the fact that EHR systems do not always suit clinicians’ workflows, creating a negative impact on physician-to-patient throughput times, and resulting in slower-than-desired comprehensive adoption of the technology by physicians. IT departments are caught in the middle – needing to capture discrete healthcare data that is interoperable throughout the health system without alienating the medical staff.
The use of more natural input tools, such as digital pen and paper and the iPad, is gaining momentum in many of the stubbornly paper-based areas.
Dr. Brian Woods, Chief Medical Officer, NorthStar Anesthesia PA and recipient of Health Data Management’s 2011 EHR Game Changer Award will share his experience in automating one of the most paper-intensive areas in healthcare – and doing so in a way that has provided minimal disruption of human and financial resources in the more than forty hospitals and surgery centers serviced by NorthStar.
