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Written by Cynthia Atoji
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Friday, 05 February 2010 00:00 |
 Some physicians spend less time shopping for EHRs than when looking for a car or house, says Margret Amatayakul, a prominent health care information technology consultant, in a Huffington Post Investigative Report < http://huffpostfund.org/stories/2010/01/shopping-health-software-some-doctors-get-buyer’s-remorse>. So it’s no wonder that many physicians – who have little experience purchasing such sophisticated systems – are suffering from buyer’s remorse.
Worse yet, with a volatile http://www.ehrbloggers.com/2010/02/notes-on-volatile-ehr-market.html market of bankruptcy, mergers, and acquisitions, industry experts say that as high as 70 percent of health IT vendors move in and out of the market, with companies such as Acermed, MedcomSoft, and others filing bankruptcy.
Purchasing a certified system http://www.cchit.org/ is no guarantee of a company’s financial strength, as vendors are not required to prove financial strength as part of the certification process. But stakeholders are urging more vendor oversight so that federal stimulus dollars are not wasted on EHRs from vendors who later might vanish. One industry observer calls the EHR marketplace “the wild, wild west.” |
Cynthia Atoji |
| About the author: |
| Cindy Atoji is a Boston-based journalist who specializes in technology, business, and healthcare news coverage. A former Boston Herald editor, Cindy blogs for the Globe and BodiMojo.com, and writes for various national publications. Visit her Website at www.CindyAtoji.com. | |
