EMR & Patient Safety: EMR: Patient Safety in Jeopardy

I have worked in the Electronic Medical Records industry as a consultant for the past 12 years. I have advised many practices in picking the best EMR, and unfortunately, my advice was not always the best. I have had to learn this the hard way through experiencing the implementation and failed usage of one particular EMR that many of my clients have purchased over the past few years.

You may be aware that Senator Chuck Grassley recently sent a letter to several EMR vendors regarding any possible patient safety issues that may be lingering in their software products.

Interestingly, I have not had any clients complain about patient safety issues in the other software solutions that I am now recommending. However, many of my clients that purchased software from one particular vendor (e-ClinicalWorks) are now stuck because they can not afford to switch to a more reliable system (in regards to patient safety). In the end, I am typically the one left to blame for their decision in choosing this vendor, because afterall, I recommended them!

Below, listed from most recent and most egregeous posts, are the issues clinicians experience with this software. The complaints are extremely serious and frankly, jaw dropping. After listening to my clients complain about the same issues that others post about on the e-CW user's forum, I have decided to bring them to light for everyone to read.

After a little bit of research and listening to the complaints, myself and others have come to the conclusion that e-ClinicalWorks software has a severely flawed medication management module. These same types of patient safety issues date back to 2005! Their inability to fix these issues after so many years clearly proves that there are critical issues in the core infrastructure of their product. They have not been able to reliably patch the same dozen or so versions of bugs in the medication management section of their software.

After reading the posts below, you may read the additional links to other posts on forums / discussion boards on the internet from e-CW users that discuss the unreliability with their product listed below:

(Read what "JK" has to say about the system making him/her more more liable and vulnerable & what "ecwdisappointed" has to say @ http://drbobbs.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/emr-panacea-under-attack/ )

(Read what "Andrew Schamess" has to say @ http://freeemrsolution.com/selecting-and-implementing-emr/eclinicalworks-emr-review/ )

Have you read the article in Medical Economics this month?

Located here:

http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/memag/Modern+Medicine+Now/How-to-choose-the-right-electronic-medical-record-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/655762

I contacted their practice and found out the vendor is e-ClinicalWorks!

Read what Dihrenda Bisht & Wendall Murray say (last 2 comments/post on this web page) @

http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2010/02/ehr-redux.html

The posts below are just the "tip of the iceberg". These posts are a very small sampling of what users have had to say about their product in regards to patient safety issues. I will post more of these in the next few days. Keep in mind, these same issues are posted in threads that date back to 2005! Meanwhile, digest the information that is already posted.

NOTE: You will have to click on each picture (each screen shot from their forum) in order to read the posts. After you click on the picture, click it once more to zoom-in and read the text. These posts are from physician end users of their product.

The posts (screen shots) below are a "print screen" directly from each thread (discussion) on their forum detailing the most important and eye opening issues in their software.

Thread #1 - SP5 Build 8.1 Critical Bug - Mismatch in Progress Note Header and Progress Note