Over the last few years, the percentage of practices using electronic health records (EHRs) and the number of cardiologists participating in the federal EHR Incentive Program has grown tremendously. With these developments, clinicians are recognizing some real benefits from their EHRs, however, according to a recent CardioSurve survey, much room for improvement still exists for this technology particularly in the areas of interoperability and closing gaps in treatment and care.

Nearly eight out of 10 cardiologists (78 percent) indicated they have been using EHRs for at least two years or more. More importantly, nine out of 10 cardiologists said they have a fully functioning EHR program or are in the process of implementing one. Popular CV practice EHRs continue to be Epic, Allscripts, NextGen, Cerner, GE Centricity, e-Clinical Works, Athena Clinicals, GEMMS, and Greenway.

Although adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) across the U.S. has increased over the past 20 years, the physician perception of EHR interoperability hasn’t been adequately exhibited. It is important to remember that physicians are concerned with providing quality care to patients in lieu of interoperability issues with EHR systems. Many physicians have a similar stance on solutions and why EHR systems in their current state are not conducive to providing quality patient care.

As part of National Health IT Week (Sept. 15-19), the ACC interviewed four members who are using Epic EHR systems to get their perspectives on interoperability and its benefits. Take a look at what they had to say:

John R. Windle, MD, FACC 1)      What challenges do you have working with EHR systems? The EHR system has not been designed to help physicians provide patient care. There are external restrictions placed on physicians.

2)      How many EHR systems have you utilized as a physician? 5 systems

3)      What are the benefits to using EHR systems? Improved billing and collection. Obtaining patient information in the EHR system is more readily accessible than utilizing paper charts. E-prescribing medications using EHR systems.

4)      How would you propose EHR vendors utilize the provider’s point of view to make EHR systems more conducive to practicing medicine? There should be an alignment at multiple levels to determine which patient information needs to be collected to provide quality care.

R. Jeffrey Westcott, MD, FACC 1)      What challenges do you have working with EHR systems? Evolving the product so that the EHR system is relevant for cardiology. Developers of EHR systems do not have a product or workflow knowledge relevant to providers providing care using the system.

2)      How many EHR systems have you utilized as a physician? 3 systems

3) What are the benefits to using EHR systems? Improved patient care

4) How would you propose EHR vendors utilize the provider’s point of view to make EHR systems more conducive to practicing medicine? Examine how the EHR systems can assist physicians with providing quality care in a timely manner. Also provide CDC and HL7 standards to enable multiple EHR systems the ability to communicate with one another.

James E. Tcheng, MD, FACC 1)      What challenges do you have working with EHR systems? The biggest issue with EHR systems is they have yet to improve efficiency. EHR systems have decreased the provider’s patient schedule. The system has also decreased the doctor-patient relationship due to the physician input of patient information into EHRs.

2)      How many EHR systems have you utilized as a physician? 4 systems

3)      What are the benefits to using EHR systems? Access to content about the patient (notes, images and medications).

4)      How would you propose EHR vendors utilize the provider’s point of view to make EHR systems more conducive to practicing medicine? EHR vendors need to focus on the end-user experience. Efficiency and effectiveness of providing comprehensive patient care. Utilize support staff to exhibit a beneficial, cohesive workflow integration.

John J. Ryan, MD, FACC 1)      What challenges do you have working with EHR systems? Structuring thought process when interacting with patients while charting in the system. EHR system has not done any justice to enriching patient interaction with providers; therefore, building a strong doctor-patient relationship is lost.

2)      How many EHR systems have you utilized as a physician? 6 systems

3)      What are the benefits to using EHR systems? Portability of patient results, images and other content. The provider has the ability to access patients’ information outside the office.

4)      How would you propose EHR vendors utilize the provider’s point of view to make EHR systems more conducive to practicing medicine? More awareness of the provider workflow not the EHR workflow. The importance of provider multitasking. The vendors should shadow the providers throughout the day, to adapt the system to the provider workflow and not have the provider conform to the EHR system workflow.

What EHR system do you use? Weigh in on its benefits and interoperability by leaving a comment below.

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