As statistics reflect major levels of EHR dissatisfaction among physicians and the AMA calls for an overhaul of EMR systems, athenahealth's "Let Doctors Be Doctors" campaign is focusing on shifting the healthcare conversation toward addressing this "elephant in the exam room."
"Healthcare IT is like a Tale of Two Cities. It is simultaneously the best of times and the worst of times," Brian Anderson, MD, senior manager of clinical effectiveness at athenahealth. "We know that EHRs are failing healthcare. They're bloated, silo-ed and have terrible usability. Yet the future of healthcare IT is incredible: Innovators are beginning to deliver better health IT solutions which are more usable, more interoperable and better connected. These solutions are slowly empowering doctors to return to what they know and love: being doctors. athenahealth has started the Let Doctors Be Doctors movement to amplify the call for better solutions and to serve as a forum for all healthcare professional[s] to contribute their vision for a more connected healthcare ecosystem."
Here are three things to know about the Let Doctors Be Doctors campaign.
• One goal of the initiative is to encourage healthcare professionals nationwide to become more vocal about their EHR frustrations and make recommendations for improving the systems.
• Using hashtags and forms on the Let Doctors Be Doctors website, athenahealth will be sharing stories, complaints and other types of physician feedback on EHRs across social media platforms.
• Jonathan Bush, CEO and co-founder of athenahealth, spoke Monday about the campaign at the U.S. News Hospital of Tomorrow conference in Washington, D.C. In an accompanying editorial piece, Mr. Bush wrote: "Healthcare is the only industry that has managed to lose productivity while going digital."