According to the Centers for Medicine & Medicaid Services, the healthcare sector is implementing EHR (Electronic Health Record) software at an increasing rate. Since 2009, the initial implementation started and currently, 73 per cent of all the eligible healthcare providers are in the United States have registered for the EHR Incentive Programs which counts over 388,000 practices.

However, the initial implementation cases have been successful but the majority of times initial usage of the software is not so easy being the time, resources, and cooperation from the providers it is a difficult task full of many challenges.

Some of the challenges or barriers encountered by providers during the use of EHR are as follows:

Technical Ability

Morsani College of Medicine of USF Health states that a computer’s capability to retrieve and send data throughout the healthcare is affected by its age and many other factors like the area of the facility located where practice takes place as rural region facilities have an internet issue that can be a big problem. So, prefer to locate the practice facility that does not make the EHR implementation and usage more difficult for you.

Cost

The cost of using and implementing EHR in the practice can be expensive. Researching about the expenses that will be invested in training, support, and physical infrastructure can be a common barrier and particularly in the case of smaller practices. So, you should take care of the funding beforehand in the implementation of EHR.

People

Regrettably, not everyone is suitable for the usage and implementation of the EHR. There are many patients that will refuse the usage of EHR because of initial technical malfunctions. So, it is necessary to consider this barrier that you may face with patients and coworkers.

Workflow Breakup

The EHRs one of the main functionality is to create a steady workflow in the practice. But if the EHR is not customized properly to fit its purpose properly it can lead to messing up the whole workflow.

Training

While implementing EHR in the practice it is suggested that the employees should be trained for the new and improvised workflows. However, the training will take extra time, efforts and resources which is not affordable for some practices usually for the smaller ones.

Privacy Concerns

The USF health stated that some healthcare providers and patients are concerned about medical privacies while using an EHR system. These concerns include lost information due to any kind of natural disaster or cyber hacks.