A View from the Top: Reflections of Leaders in the Electronic Health Record Industry

Abstract

This chapter is comprised of responses from chief executive officers and chief medical officers of some of the major EHR vendors addressing two questions – what should clinicians be looking for now as they consider purchasing an EHR for their practice and where they feel the industry is going, that is to say what changes will we be seeing over the next 5 years of which the practicing physician should be aware. The expectation was that their thoughts would be interesting, but fairly consistent, in their positive outlook of the EHR industry and the promises of what EHRs might do for patient care. After all, they are the leaders in a industry which will change the way that health care is delivered more than any other single invention or discovery of this generation. Instead, what you will see in this chapter is that while their views are positive about the potential for EHRs to improve care, their views are anything but consistent as they speak honestly of the potential promises and pitfalls facing both the industry and the individual practitioners in choosing and implementing EHRs.

The computer is a logic machine, and that is its strength – but also its limitation. The important events on the outside cannot be reported in the kind of form a computer could possibly handle. Man, however, while not particularly logical is perceptive – and that is his strength.

– Peter Drucker, the Effective Executive