Are EMRs As Great For ACOs As People Say?

For quite some time, talking heads have noted that EMRs will be an essential part of ACOs, so much so that most doubt you can have a successful ACO organization without one.  What I don’t see asked as often, however, is whether EMRs are shaping the future of the ACO movement, both negatively and positively.

What would an ACO look like, if it could exist at all, without an electronic record or HIE in place?

* There would even more mistakes and delays in sharing patient records, as one can hardly expect a larger group of institutions to make *less* mistakes

*  ACOs could launch without having to spend millions of dollars on EMR software, hardware, training and support

*  Clinical workflow would remain the same, generally, even if doctors were forced to include larger numbers of co-workers in their network

And how are ACOs working with EMRs in place?

*  Aside from limited case studies in individual institutions , it’s not clear whether EMRs are turning large, newly assembled care organizations into safer places to get care.

*  ACOs are forming more slowly than they might be, arguably, because a comprehensive EMR is part of t he cost of doing business

* New clinical workflow patterns are being forced upon clinicians, cutting across multiple institutions. While this might ultimately increase efficiency, it’s hard to ignore how many human hours are being invested (or wasted, depending on your position) on new technology.

As you can see, I come down on the “EMRs may not be all they’re cracked up to be for ACOs” side of things. Now, I’d concede that I haven’t been completely fair — I know EMRs have yielded great benefits for some groups of institutions– but I’d say the jury’s still out overall.

About the author

Anne Zieger

Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

1 Comment

  • With as hard as it is to get consensus and funding for an EMR in a single business unit 5 doc PCP … how realistic is it to find consensus and funding for an EMR linking multiple individually owned clinical business units ostensibly forming an HCO?

    An EMR can only be effective as an enhancement for already strong well integrated clinical and business operations. An EMR can’t be the integration of disparate business units with varying clinical outcome priorities and different business operational cost burdens or priorities.

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