How to Overcome 'EHR Burnout'

Does all the time you spend documenting in EHR have you pulling your hair out? The HITECH Act led to widespread increases in electronic health record usage – which brings many positives to healthcare, of course – but there have also been some unintended side effects, so to speak.

The biggie here? Clinician burnout.

The Journal of American Medical Informatics Association recently published a retrospective look back at the medical field since the adoption of HITECH and noted that current clinician burnout rates are exceeding 50%, with EHRs serving as a significant contributing factor.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology suggests three key goals to improve EHR usability and address the problem related to physician burnout:

• Reduce the time and effort of EHR recording time during patient visits
• Reduce the time and effort of EHR reporting requirements by clinicians, hospitals, and health systems
• Ease the use of EHRs and improve EHR functionality

These sound like on-target goals. What remains to be seen is a clear pathway to implementing these changes for the sake of easing the burden of medical burnout.

In the meantime, know that BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy stands ready to partner with your office as the fast & easy way to get your patients the specialty medications they need to start and stay on therapy.