[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":3467,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"More than half of U.S. physicians indicate that the health or safety of their patients was put in jeopardy because of an electronic health record system outage.

That\u2019s the finding of a new survey by SERMO, a social networking website exclusively for doctors.

According to the Office of the National Coordinator for health IT, EHR outages represent a significant potential patient safety hazard that directly affects patient care, raising the likelihood of increased risk of medication errors, lack of access to images and canceled procedures.

In addition, ONC warns that the potential impact of EHR unavailability\u2014both planned and unplanned\u2014increases as such systems are deployed across multiple, geographically dispersed facilities within a healthcare system.

\u201cAs we have become more successful deploying EHRs, we have an increasing percentage of the clinical workforce that has never practiced healthcare without an EHR,\u201d says Andrew Gettinger, MD, ONC\u2019s chief medical information officer. \u201cTheir ability to go back to paper-based systems is very different than when we started on this journey and everyone knew what to do when the systems were out.\u201d

Gettinger, who is also executive director of the Office of Clinical Quality and Safety, cautions that healthcare organizations can never expect to have 100 percent EHR uptime and that inevitably clinicians will not be able access all or part of their EHRs because of software and hardware failures, power outages, as well as natural and man-made disasters.

\u201cThe duration of an outage creates an increasing amount of work when you resume your electronic systems. And, different organizations have different strategies for how they backfill the content and make sure they don\u2019t miss things along the way,\u201d he adds.

To prepare providers for such eventualities, Gettinger recommends that organizations conduct practice drills for how to operate during EHR outages. \u201cYou have to prepare ahead of time\u2014there will always be outages.\u201d

In the SERMO poll, a total of 3,086 global physicians responded\u2014of which 1,678 identified themselves as U.S.-based physicians.

While the majority of American doctors (55 percent) did<\/i> report that the health or safety of a patient was put in jeopardy because of an EHR outage, the majority of physicians globally (54 percent) said the well-being of a patient has never been in jeopardy because of an EHR outage.

In fact, doctors in countries with public healthcare systems such as Canada (54 percent), the United Kingdom (54 percent), France (61 percent) and Germany (91 percent) all indicated that they\u2019ve had no health or safety issues as a result of EHR outages.

Nonetheless, Gettinger is not surprised by the difference in experience between U.S. and international physicians when it comes to patient safety and EHRs.

\u201cThere is about a 10 point difference between the European and U.S. physicians in the poll,\u201d observes Gettinger. \u201cThat speaks to how EHRs are implemented. In the United States, there is way more fragmentation than there is in Europe, where implementation is done in a more standardized way across countries. Here, we have much more diversity as that\u2019s done.\u201d

Recently, ONC updated its Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) guides to help providers assess the safety and usability of their respective EHRs. The guides include a Contingency Planning Guide that identifies recommended safety practices associated with planned or unplanned EHR unavailability or downtimes, when systems are partially (response times are unacceptably slow) or completely unavailable.

Also See<\/b>: ONC updates health IT safety guides for providers<\/a>

EHR unavailability \u201ccan introduce substantial safety risks to organizations that have not adequately prepared,\u201d states the guide. \u201cEffective contingency planning addresses the causes and consequences of EHR unavailability, and involves processes and preparations that can minimize the frequency and impact of such events, ensuring continuity of care.\u201d

Gettinger contends that EHR safety and effectiveness can be improved by establishing proper downtime procedures, policies, and practices\u2014as outlined in the SAFER guides\u2014including contingency plans and back-up systems.

Still, he acknowledges that small practices will never have the \u201ckind of IT expertise that\u2019s necessary to keep systems up and running as smoothly as we\u2019d like.\u201d","saveContent":"More than half of U.S. physicians indicate that the health or safety of their patients was put in jeopardy because of an electronic health record system outage.

That\u2019s the finding of a new survey by SERMO, a social networking website exclusively for doctors.

According to the Office of the National Coordinator for health IT, EHR outages represent a significant potential patient safety hazard that directly affects patient care, raising the likelihood of increased risk of medication errors, lack of access to images and canceled procedures.

In addition, ONC warns that the potential impact of EHR unavailability\u2014both planned and unplanned\u2014increases as such systems are deployed across multiple, geographically dispersed facilities within a healthcare system.

\u201cAs we have become more successful deploying EHRs, we have an increasing percentage of the clinical workforce that has never practiced healthcare without an EHR,\u201d says Andrew Gettinger, MD, ONC\u2019s chief medical information officer. \u201cTheir ability to go back to paper-based systems is very different than when we started on this journey and everyone knew what to do when the systems were out.\u201d

Gettinger, who is also executive director of the Office of Clinical Quality and Safety, cautions that healthcare organizations can never expect to have 100 percent EHR uptime and that inevitably clinicians will not be able access all or part of their EHRs because of software and hardware failures, power outages, as well as natural and man-made disasters.

\u201cThe duration of an outage creates an increasing amount of work when you resume your electronic systems. And, different organizations have different strategies for how they backfill the content and make sure they don\u2019t miss things along the way,\u201d he adds.

To prepare providers for such eventualities, Gettinger recommends that organizations conduct practice drills for how to operate during EHR outages. \u201cYou have to prepare ahead of time\u2014there will always be outages.\u201d

In the SERMO poll, a total of 3,086 global physicians responded\u2014of which 1,678 identified themselves as U.S.-based physicians.

While the majority of American doctors (55 percent) did<\/i> report that the health or safety of a patient was put in jeopardy because of an EHR outage, the majority of physicians globally (54 percent) said the well-being of a patient has never been in jeopardy because of an EHR outage.

In fact, doctors in countries with public healthcare systems such as Canada (54 percent), the United Kingdom (54 percent), France (61 percent) and Germany (91 percent) all indicated that they\u2019ve had no health or safety issues as a result of EHR outages.

Nonetheless, Gettinger is not surprised by the difference in experience between U.S. and international physicians when it comes to patient safety and EHRs.

\u201cThere is about a 10 point difference between the European and U.S. physicians in the poll,\u201d observes Gettinger. \u201cThat speaks to how EHRs are implemented. In the United States, there is way more fragmentation than there is in Europe, where implementation is done in a more standardized way across countries. Here, we have much more diversity as that\u2019s done.\u201d

Recently, ONC updated its Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) guides to help providers assess the safety and usability of their respective EHRs. The guides include a Contingency Planning Guide that identifies recommended safety practices associated with planned or unplanned EHR unavailability or downtimes, when systems are partially (response times are unacceptably slow) or completely unavailable.

Also See<\/b>: ONC updates health IT safety guides for providers<\/a>

EHR unavailability \u201ccan introduce substantial safety risks to organizations that have not adequately prepared,\u201d states the guide. \u201cEffective contingency planning addresses the causes and consequences of EHR unavailability, and involves processes and preparations that can minimize the frequency and impact of such events, ensuring continuity of care.\u201d

Gettinger contends that EHR safety and effectiveness can be improved by establishing proper downtime procedures, policies, and practices\u2014as outlined in the SAFER guides\u2014including contingency plans and back-up systems.

Still, he acknowledges that small practices will never have the \u201ckind of IT expertise that\u2019s necessary to keep systems up and running as smoothly as we\u2019d like.\u201d","order":0,"get_parent":{},"attributes":[],"attributesType":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"dynamicContent":""}]

Most doctors say patient health, safety jeopardized by EHR outages

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