This October, the RAND corporation published a study on physician satisfaction that emphasized one key factor: The quality of patient care. Not surprisingly, medical professionals cited their ability to provide efficient and effective treatment as their driving force. As such, the most frustrating aspects of day-to-day practices involved processes and even innovations that were seen to impair or needlessly encumber this ability. Unfortunately, chiropractic EHR has routinely fallen under this umbrella.

"Physicians believe in the benefits of electronic health records, and most do not want to go back to paper charts," lead author  Dr. Mark Friedberg said of the findings in a press release. "But at the same time, they report that electronic systems are deeply problematic in several ways. Physicians are frustrated by systems that force them to do clerical work or distract them from paying close attention to their patients."

Recently, EHR Intelligence revisited this study, highlighting the hand that EHR provider selection can play in casting digitized documents as an essential tool or a barrier in the pursuit of quality patient care. With meaningful use stage 2 mere months away, physicians are flocking to EHR vendors, often without knowing how to distinguish one from another, or realizing which qualities will prove the most valuable both in chiropractic management software and providers. In that vein, the source calls for incentives for EHR vendors to meet benchmarks in usability so that interacting with EHR directly does not add to a physician's overall workload, but reduces it. Making EHR software more accessible across the board can also help prevent discrepancies in patient records that stem from inconsistent use of digital and paper records.

So, what you can you do to take advantage of this shift in health IT? Turn to a chiropractic EHR provider that has prioritized usability and is willing to guide you through the adoption process and beyond.