Factors associated with difficult electronic health record implementation in office practice.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Practice Management
• Physician Workflow Analysis

Background:

• Electronic Health Records (EHR) adoption is crucial for modern healthcare, yet physician perceptions of implementation difficulty remain understudied.
• Understanding factors influencing physician-perceived difficulty is essential for successful EHR rollout and optimizing clinical workflows.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify baseline factors associated with the perceived difficulty of implementing electronic health records (EHR) among physicians.
• To inform strategies for improving EHR implementation success by understanding physician perspectives.

Main Methods:

• A pre- and post-implementation survey was administered to 163 physicians participating in an EHR pilot program.
• Ordinal hierarchical logistic regression analysis was used to identify significant predictors of perceived EHR implementation difficulty.

Main Results:

• Physician employees reported less difficulty implementing EHR compared to practice owners (adjusted OR 0.5).
• Physicians perceiving their clinical staff as innovative were less likely to report EHR implementation difficulty (adjusted OR 0.4).

Conclusions:

• Practice ownership status and staff innovation are key factors influencing physician perceptions of EHR implementation difficulty.
• Targeted support for practice owners and leveraging innovative staff may enhance EHR adoption and success.